No Matter What
by RandomFandoms14
Summary: "I'm going to die." "No you're not, Ryuu, don't say that. I'll protect you, no matter what."
1. The Start Of It All

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DEATH NOTE NOR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS. ALL RIGHTS GO TO ITS OWNERS. I ALSO DO NOT OWN THE COVER FOR THE STORY. **

"Are we all here?"

A collective affirmative let the chief know that yes, everyone was here.

"Let's begin with the Public Intelligence report."

"Yes." One of the officers stood up and started announcing his findings to the room.

"The total number of reports from the public, including phone calls, currently stands at 3029."

The whole room murmured. So many reports already? So busy were they that they didn't notice the woman in the back of the room, the only woman in the room, suppress a yawn of boredom. _'Most of the calls are going to turn out to be pranks_.'

"Unfortunately, the large majority of them seems to be prank calls." Chapped lips curved upwards in a smirk.

"There have been 14 reported incidents of people who either know or have seen Kira..." _'Again, all of them are untrue.'_

"...none of them have any credibility." _'Then why spend time on them?'_

The officer then moved on to name the 21 incidents of people calling claiming to be Kira. All of them would be "followed up" and would "remain on file". A soft sigh left the woman's lips, and she settled in for a long, boring meeting. _'I can't stand these people! All they're going to do is discuss what little they found and accomplished in hopes of retaining their reputation. That or they're going to announce information we already know!' _She suppressed a yawn and sighed again in disappointment. _'Really, the only way this meeting is going to be interesting was if _he _came into the picture...'_

"...we have followed up L's specific request that investigate the assumed time of death for each victim. Results indicate that 68% of all deaths occurred during weekdays, between 4 pm and 12 am, Japanese time." Eyes glazed with boredom lit up. This was potentially interesting. "The number of deaths peaks over the weekend when they can occur at any time between eleven in the morning through till late at night." _'I'm impressed. The Japanese police can actually find new, potentially important information!'_

Turns out she wasn't the only one who thought this way. From the far side of the room, she heard an auto-tuned voice say, "This is all extremely interesting information."

If anyone had been looking at her side of the room right after this statement was said, they would've seen the woman's eyes widen in surprise and her lips curve into a pleased smile. However, it was only in that fleeting moment that they would've seen it because it faded quickly into a mildly interested expression.

"It suggests that given the assumed times of death, there is a possibility that our culprit may be a student." _'Way to shock them, L'_ she thought in her head as many gasps pervaded the room.

"I have other grounds to support this. Given that they appear to be only targeting criminals, the culprit seems to be motivated by a sense of 'justice'." She laughed softly, too softly to be heard. '_Like you?'_

"It's conceivable that they may even plan on becoming some kind of God. This means they we may be dealing with an extremely hollow psychology."

At this, the woman finally stood up. "Chief Yagami, L, if you may permit me, I have a few things to say regarding Kira's psychology."

At this, the chief started protesting, "Dr. Kobayashi, I know you are eager to share your findings, but..."

"Let her speak, Chief. I'm sure what she has to say is important regarding the case. Please, go on ahead Kobayashi-san."

She took a deep breath. "Well first, in my interpretation of the case, I would think that Kira works alone..."

"And why is that, Kobayashi-san?" L interrupted.

She gave an amused look at the computer screen. _'Aw, look, he's jealous I cut into his speaking time!' _"I would think that Kira works alone because of the fact he's killed so many criminals already. If our culprit is a student, then they would've given up by now. A student may not have the mercy to stop killing criminals, but a group of students surely would, given that one of them would become extremely scared at their acts, and would try to secretly turn themselves and their buddies in. Also, a group of students would've been caught by now because a group of students would tend to be careless about their actions, therefore making it easy to find them."

The room was utterly silent. Even L seemed to be processing this information. Kobayashi took this to be a good sign, and continued, "If the student is indeed acting alone, then he or she would be hard to find because, according to my interpretation of the evidence, Kira is a psychopath. A psychopath is someone who has a lack of capacity for emotions; however, he or she knows how to manipulate other people's emotions. This is why it will be extremely difficult to find Kira; psychopaths are often dignified members of society. They are charismatic, and they seem to be kind; however, this only hides the emptiness they hold inside. So yes, in a way of speaking, we are dealing with an extremely hollow psychology." And with that, Kobayashi sat down and awaited L's verdict.

It came almost instantly. "That is also an interesting bit of information that we shall have to consider in this case. Thank you Kobayashi-san." Then he addressed the whole room. "I realize that it may be hard for all of you in this room to suspect that the culprit might be a student. However, please rid yourselves of any preconceptions you might have that our culprit cannot be a student. To consider every possibility; that is likely to be the shortest road to apprehending Kira. Please continue the investigation report."

"Y-yes," the chief stuttered out. _'Poor guy. He's overwhelmed at thought of someone so young being Kira.'_

"Are there any other observations?"

"Umm... Yes." Another officer raised his hand.

"What is it, Matsuda?" Said officer nervously stood up, and Kobayashi immediately began analyzing him. _'He's not too young to be in the police. However, he looks out of place here. Now why is that?' _ She chewed on her bottom lip for a bit, then released it as she figured out why. _'He has absolutely no experience. He's like a child trying act all grown up. Poor guy.'_

"Umm, I don't mean to support Kira in any way by saying this, but over the last few days, throughout the world, but especially in Japan... the number of serious crimes committed has dramatically decreased."

The room grumbled its disapproval. Kobayashi felt her rage rise significantly. _'These hypocrites! They were all probably thinking the same thing, and yet they have the nerve to act as if he's the criminal?!'_

The chief coughed in discomfort. "I guess that kind of phenomenon was to be expected. Anything else?"

Matsuda looked crestfallen and embarrassed, and sat down without saying a word.

The chief continued. "Right. L, that concludes today's investigation report."

Kobayashi stood for the 2nd time that meeting. "Actually Chief, may I expand on what Matsuda-san over here was saying?"

The chief looked mildly annoyed but nodded his approval.

'_Well, here goes nothing.' _"What Matsuda-san stated was quite interesting because it implies that Kira uses fear to rule. If this information was somehow passed on to Kira's supporters, then we could significantly weaken Kira's support, at least, for a while. If Kira's support is weakened, he'll probably think that no one wants his type of 'justice', and that could cause him to lose morale. This information, if it should ever be passed on, should be passed on now, and it should be backed up with the murder of Lind L. Tailor. I realize that this is a rather radical idea, but I urge you to think about it."

The chief widened his eyes in surprise, but regained his composure quickly. "Right. We'll see how much we can invest in this. Thank you, Dr. Kobayashi. You may sit down."

Kobayashi nodded her head in understanding and sat down.

"Does anyone else have anything they'd like to say before we conclude for tonight?"

Looks darted around the room. Eyes asked each other if they had anything they'd like to add. The answer was negative.

The chief sighed. "Then we adjourn for tonight. Goodnight gentlemen, L."

The auto-tuned voice piped up once more. "Good work. I feel that we're one step closer to finding the culprit. Also, I have another order to trouble you with."

This statement was met with looks of incredulity. L, of course, did not know this, and continued onwards. "I need the teams investigating victims, information, and Internet to double-check what information regarding each victim was previously released in Japan: more specifically, whether or not footage or photographs of the victims had been released. Thank you." There was an audible click, indicating that the great detective had turned off his microphone. As soon as the click was heard, the man in black holding the laptop upright abruptly closed it, put it in his cloak, and whisked out of the room without a word.

As if waking up from a trance, everyone else in the room started packing up to go home. However, whereas everyone else took their time, Kobayashi just stuffed her notes into her folder, slung her bag over her shoulder, and was about to dart from the room when...

"Umm, Kobayashi-san?" A timid voice called out to her back. _'Damn it!' _she cursed inwardly, _'So close...'_

She whipped around with a polite smile on her face. "Yes, what is it, Matsuda-san?"

"I-uh, j-just wanted to thank you for standing up for me today..." he looked away in embarrassment.

Kobayashi shook her head softly. "It was nothing Matsuda-san! If anything, I admire your courage to say what was on everyone's minds today!"

Matsuda looked up excitedly. "Really?"

"Really! That concept had to be confronted sooner or later, and better sooner than later, right?"

Matsuda smiled slowly. "Right."

"Right." _'Agh! At this rate I'll never get out of here! What do I do...' _She chewed her bottom lip before an idea came to her. _'Brilliant!' _And thus her plan began.

She made a big show of looking down at her watch and feigning surprise at how late she was. "Oh no! I still need to get Obaa-chan's medicine! Agh!" She looked up at Matsuda, and faked an apologetic smile.

"It was nice talking to you Matsuda-san, but unfortunately, I need to go so..."

"Oh no, it's fine Kobayashi-san. I can tell you're in a hurry, so I'll see you later."

"Thank you for understanding! Bye!"

"Bye Kob-" She never heard the rest of the phrase as she had rushed out of there. She ran down the empty hallway, slowed down when she passed 2 officers going for a cup of water, and sped up again when the coast was clear. Finally, she managed to get out of the building.

Almost instantly, the cold December air hit her like a pound of bricks. She, however, embraced it fully. She inhaled the frosty air, and smiled delightedly. The cold always made her feel alive.

"Miss Kobayashi, would you perhaps like to come back to Earth?" She spun around, only to face the man in black.

"Oh Watari! Sorry about that! You know me and my relationship with the cold..."

She couldn't see his face, but she could imagine that he was smiling gently behind the hat and cloak L insisted he hide himself behind.

"Well, Miss Kobayashi, as much as you like the cold, I suggest we head home. You know how he is when we don't return early."

She smiled indulgently. Oh yes. She did know.

Watari held out the car door open for her. She offered a thankful smile before slipping inside. She waited for him to get to the driver's seat and start the car. As they pulled away from the police headquarters, she let out a sigh of contentment. Just a few more minutes before she'd be home.

TIMESKIPTIMESKIPTIMESKIPTIMESKIPTMISKIPANDYESTHATLASTONEWASMEANTTOBETHATWAY

When they finally arrived, Watari told her to go up before him, stating that he had to go shopping. She protested against that, saying, "It's not fair for you to do all the work! Let me go instead!"

Watari, however, just shook his head and said, "He's expecting you." With that, he pulled away from the tall skyscraper and left Kobayashi to her own devices.

Kobayashi looked on in disbelief, then sighed and started dragging herself upstairs. She huffed and puffed all the way, wondering why there ever had to be such a thing as stairs. However, she had to go this way. The elevator had broken down due to the cold, and the repairman wouldn't come until tomorrow.

Finally however, she reached the top of the stairs. As usual, when she opened the door to the penthouse, it was dark. She smiled in faint amusement.

She placed her coat gently on the coat hook she knew was by the door, took off her shoes, and waited for her eyes to adjust. To speed up the process, she squinted her eyes shut for a long time then opened them.

After she had finally adjusted to the dark, she moved carefully through the penthouse to the place she knew he would be in. She could imagine him now: crouching over the screen the way he always does, biting his thumbnail while analyzing the evidence in front of him. She shook her head in amusement and focused on her current task.

When she reached the door, she turned the door handle carefully, so as to make as little noise as possible. If she was really careful, she would catch him by surprise.

As she opened the door, she smiled when she saw him in front of her exactly as she thought he would be. He didn't even acknowledge her presence, meaning he was too engrossed in his work to notice her almost-silent entrance.

She crept up slowly on him, and when she was right behind him, gently, but firmly, put her arms around him.

"I'm back, Ryuu." She whispered in his ear.

L started slightly, then relaxed, and she could the smile in his voice as he replied,

"Welcome home, Sunny."

**AN Hi guys! This is RaFa-chan, and I'm back with my second fanfic! Alright, I'm going to warn you guys right now, this one's gonna be a doozy because I intend for it to be long! So just sit back and hold tight!**

**A little background info: So Kobayashi (Sunny, as L calls her) is a psychiatrist. She is 23, and is also L's childhood friend from Wammy's (this explains why she's a genius). She and L are like Yin and Yang; L doesn't know how to deal with people, she does. There are lots of other contrasts, but that's the main one. Also, Sunny calls L "Ryuu" because he calls himself Ryuuga and Ryuuzaki. It's just easier for her. **

**My beta-reader for this fic will be CodenameJellybean! I suggest all you HP fans check out her fanfics, she's a reaaaaalllly good author! :)**

**Now, for reference points, the whole meeting scene takes place in first 5 or so minutes of episode 3. And yes, I did watch that while typing this up. The viewpoints that Sunny says are totally mine though.**

**I could not find the original site of the picture no matter how hard I tried. Let me know if you guys find it, ok? If this is your picture, again, please let me know.**

**Let's see, I think that's all. If you have any questions, just post them in the comments. I'll answer them in my next AN if it doesn't give up the plot. Bye!**

**xXRaFa-ChanXx**


	2. Fluff, Sugar Bowls, and, of course, Kira

_Last time on __**No Matter What**__..._

_She crept up slowly on him, and when she was right behind him, gently, but firmly, put her arms around him. _

_ "I'm back, Ryuu." She whispered in his ear._

_ L started slightly, then relaxed, and she could the smile in his voice as he replied,_

_ "Welcome home, Sunny."_

LESTARTINGPOINT

"So, what're you looking at?" Sunny asked, pulling back from the embrace and going to sit beside him. She tucked her legs under herself and sat on them.

"Student ranking in schools in the Kanto region. You yourself said that Kira must be a psychopath, and that most psychopaths are geniuses." He sipped his tea, wrinkled his nose at the taste, and promptly added 5 more sugar cubes.

Sunny smiled. "No, I said that Kira must be a psychopath, and most psychopaths are distinguished members of society. I never said they had to be geniuses."

"Perhaps you didn't," he dipped his spoon into his tea and stirred the sugar in "However, if Kira is indeed a student in Japan, then he or she must be a brilliant student because the Japanese place a lot of stock in education."

She chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. "Well, when you put it that way... I guess you're right."

"I know I'm right, Sunny." He lay the spoon down by the saucer, picked up his cup by the handle with his thumb and forefinger, and sipped his tea, humming in satisfaction at the taste.

She snorted softly and went back to scanning the screen. As she looked up the list of students, Sunny froze when she got to the top spot. She gaped in shock. This was...

"Hm?" L followed her gaze to the screen and read the student's profile. "Light Yagami. Ranking: #1 in the Kanto region. Grade: 12 School: Daikoku Private Academy. Hm," L chewed on his thumb, "If I'm not mistaken, Daikoku Private Academy is quite a prestigious school."

"Th-that's not it, Ryuu. This Light Yagami isn't just anybody; he's the Chief's son!"

L's eyes widened slightly. "Chief Yagami's son? Are you sure?"

"Yes." L looked at her blankly, but she knew he was interested. "I have to send reports to the Chief sometimes to assure him I'm actually doing something; he doesn't know I'm spying on the police for you after all." She smiled briefly, secretively at him, and continued. "Whenever I go to give him a report, there's always a photo of his family on his desk. And since I pretty much notice everything..." She shrugged, "Well, you get what I mean." Her face turned thoughtful, and she chewed on her lip before distantly speaking, "I wonder though, why he never talks about his son. I mean, I should think he'd be proud of a son like this. Most people would be. Hm," She chewed on her lip a bit more before concluding with, "I suppose he's more modest than I thought he was. No wonder he's the Chief."

"Speaking of the Japanese Police, how were their reactions to the meeting?"

"Well, they were really shocked at the idea that Kira could be a student, but that's to be expected. However," she hesitated, trying to find the right words before proceeding, "When you asked them for that little request at the end, they were kind of... how should I put this? Surprised, maybe? And they were also perhaps a little bit offended that you were asking so much of them." She waited, watching L's face for his reaction.

If L had eyebrows, he probably would've raised them in interest. As it was, he just replied with, "Offended? Hm, that's rather interesting. Any idea as to why, Sunny?"

"I think it's because they just can't empathize with someone they can't see, someone's name they don't even know. Heck, they don't even know your real voice, Ryuu! They don't trust you as much we need them to if we're to work together to solve the Kira case."

L sipped the last of his tea, swallowed, and said in that _ever-changing _tone of his, "That makes perfect sense. I don't believe I would trust myself either if I were in their position. However, this is an extremely difficult decision to make; on one hand, if I show my face to the police, then there's a chance my face could be exposed to the public, on the other hand, if I don't show my face, then I shall never gain the police's trust, and we can't move on with the Kira case if this occurs. Hm." He chewed his thumb, trying to figure out how to best get around this situation.

Sunny sighed. It hasn't even been a week on this case and already her friend is stressing out because of it. What was she going to do with him?

She stood up, wincing as the blood rushed to her legs. "I wouldn't worry about it too much at this point, Ryuu. It's been barely a week since you took up this case, not even. It'll turn out fine. Let's see how many people still want to do this case by the end of this year, and then we'll see what we can do. Until then..." She glanced at his empty tea cup, "Want more tea?"

"Yes please. Oh, and can you refill my sugar bowl while you're at it?" He passed her the empty tea cup and the barely overflowing sugar bowl. She chuckled and took the empty teacup.

He pushed the sugar bowl nearer to her, implying that she take it too.

She laughed again, and shook her head. "No Ryuu. Finish ALL your sugar first, and then I'll take it up to get more. Until then, let me just go get you some more tea." With that, she left the dark room and went to the kitchen.

When she got to the kitchen, the first thing she did was turn on the lights. No use getting him more tea in the dark when it would do more harm than good. Then, she went over to the kettle and picked it up. It was empty.

_Dang it!_ She thought. _Now I have to brew him more tea. _Now, by no means was Sunny a lazy girl, but she was a rather clumsy one, especially when she was bone-tired. She racked her thoughts into focus and climbed on top of the counter to look for the container of tea leaves, which was just so _conveniently_ located on the very top shelf.

She was just about to grasp it when her feet hit an inconvenient patch of water, and she slipped. As she fell, she banged her head against the counter. Pain instantly blossomed in her head, and that was all she could register until she heard, "Sunny, Sunny, are you okay?"

"I-I think so," she managed to croak out. She reached up and touched her head. She winced at the bruise.

L looked it over too. "It's not bleeding. You should be fine, although you might have a headache in the morning."

She laughed breathily. "You know how many accidents I've gotten into! At this point, the headache probably won't even hurt much anyways." She tried to get up, but her head was still pounding, and she was so, _so_ tired. She looked up at L's face and stretched out a hand. "Help me up?"

L took the outstretched hand and gave it a gentle tug, trying to help his best friend get up without causing her pain. "Can you get to bed by yourself, or should I carry you?"

Sunny blushed. "N-no, y-you don't have to c-carry me!" she exclaimed. "H-however, I might need a little bit of help getting there..."

L understood immediately. Without a word, he placed Sunny's arm around his neck, and slowly, but surely, helped her to the bedroom.

Once they got there, he tucked her in safely, and turned around to exit when...

"Wait. Don't go." Sunny whispered.

He turned back again. "What do you need?" he whispered back.

She bit her lip. "C-can you stay? At least, until I fall asleep?"

Again, L understood. Silently, he pulled up the covers, got into bed, and pulled her close to his chest. "Goodnight Sunny." He whispered into her hair.

Sunny sighed in contentment and stretched out her toes.

"G'night, Ryuu."

SKIPTYSKIPTILLMORNINGTIMEMYLOVLIESANDNOIDON'THAVEADREAMSEQUENCEYETTHOSEWILLCOME

When she woke up in the morning, all Sunny could register were warmth and the familiar smell of vanilla and strawberries, a combination so delicious she buried her head into L's chest before groaning in pain.

The noise seemed to wake L up, and he pulled back to find a sleep-rumpled Sunny gingerly rubbing her bruise in pain.

"Agh! That's gonna hurt for a while," she looked up to see L staring at her. "Oh, good morning Ryuu."

L stared at her blankly. "Good morning Sunny. How's your head?"

"Not the best it's been. Could be better. You'd think that by now I'd get used to it."

"Yes I would think..." he drawled off. They didn't talk after that, and the room was encompassed in a comfortable silence. Neither one wanted to break this brief bubble of safety, innocence, and sunlight.

They stayed that way for almost 10 minutes, when Sunny scrambled out of bed, exclaiming, "Shoot, I need to get to work!"

During this commotion, L had fallen to the floor. He blinked once, twice, thrice in confusion, then, sighing, he got up and brushed himself off.

All this time, Sunny was running around the condo like a chicken with its head cut off, trying to find the things she needed to take with her to "work".

L watched this with inward amusement, all the while showing the world a totally blank face. Sunny _hated _being late to anything, so that's why it was a rare sight to see her all flustered and fluttering around in the morning like this. Any other time though...

Sunny stopped her frantic scrabbling for a second. _Okay, breathe Sunny. Check, are you missing anything? Keys, papers, folder, coat, cellphone, laptop..._

The list went on and on. When she finally determined she had everything she needed, she put on her coat, stuffed her folder into her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and went to give L a hug.

As she pulled away from the embrace, she said, "I'll be back early if all goes well today. If there's anything new going on with the Kira case, I'll email you. If I can't access the files, Watari will. Ok?"

"Alright Sunny." He watched her put on her shoes when an urgent thought crossed his mind.

"Sunny, have you eaten yet?"

She looked up, about to say yes before stopping to consider if she really had. Her face grew sheepish when she realized she hadn't, and she rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. "No," she muttered before standing up, reaching over L to the box of doughnuts by the table with the big vase, took a chocolate doughnut and stuffed it in her mouth.

"Mm, not the best breakfast I had, but it'll do. Bye Ryuu!"

L stared at her in amusement. "It's not healthy to eat just a doughnut for breakfast." He said to her back.

She stopped and turned around with a smile. "This is severely hypocritical coming from you, Ryuu." She looked down at her watch, and her eyes widened comically in alarm. "Gah! I'm late!" And with that, she rushed down the steps, leaving an extremely amused and doughnut-hungry L in her wake.

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYTIMUSKIPPUFUNFUNFUNFUNFUNFUNFUNFUN'NUFFSAIDONTOTHESTORY

Sunny let out a big sigh of relief. _I made it. Right on time. Thank the heavens and all that is holy._

"Good morning, Kobayashi-san."

She looked up from her papers. "Ah, good morning Matsuda-san. How are you?"

Matsuda rubbed the back of his neck good naturedly. "I'm fine. How are you and your grandmother Kobayashi-san?"

_Grandmother? Oh that! _Sunny smiled. "We're both fine, thanks."

"Hey, I was wondering if we could go grab some coffee later. There's a coffee shop not far from here, and it's one of the best coffee shops I've ever been to. My friends and I are gonna head down there during lunch break. Would you like to join us?"

Sunny smiled again. _Usually I wouldn't focus on matters like these, but... this could be the perfect chance to find out how they feel about Ryuu! _

"Coffee sounds wonderful, thank you. So, where is this coffee shop of yours?"

Matsuda's eyes lit up. "Well, it's..."

"Matsuda, can you check over the rest of these papers? I'm too tired to make sense of anything, let alone these things!"

"Ah, sure..." And with that, Matsuda was pulled away, leaving Sunny to her own pile of papers to get through.

Just looking at these pages of white paper dotted with black ink made her headache in full force, and then some. She sighed and rubbed her temples with her left hand. This was going to be a long day; she could just feel it.

ANOTHERSKIPDEARGODIHAVETOSTOPMAKINGTHESEOHWELLIWON'TTHEY'RETOOMUCHFUUUUUUUUN

Sunny stretched her hands above her head and let out a tiny yawn. She'd been here for 2 or 3 hours now, and so far, nothing interesting had really happened. She looked at the pile of paperwork on her desk. Most of them were reports on Kira's mentality that she herself had filled out. She had also carefully considered how a lot of other people might react to Kira, which wasn't exactly hard to do. All in all, it had been a pretty bland day so far.

She decided to go get a cup of water. As she made her way to the water jug at the front of the room, she saw that everyone was working extremely hard on the Kira case. She smiled. _Good news Ryuu! The Japanese police are determined to stop Kira, no matter what! _

She sipped her water slowly, making it last as long as possible. When it was done, she sighed, cracked her knuckles, and got back to work again.

She had been working diligently for over an hour when a policeman burst out in a cry. Suddenly, the previously silent room was filled remarks of confusion and eventual disbelief.

Puzzled, she got up from her desk to see what was causing the commotion. As she entered the crowd that had gathered near the man's desk, she heard people say, "He's done it now." And "How did he know?" Intrigued and heavily mystified, she ducked under an opening to see the papers on the desk clearly. She squinted to see the title and gasped in shock.

_How is this possible?! How is Kira killing off criminals by the hour?!_

**AN: Hey guys! So I'm back with the second chappie of 'No Matter What'. All in all, this chapter was a pit of shameless fluff, and a teensy bit of plot to keep it going. I REGRET NOTHING!**

**Alright, explanation time. So the reason why Sunny asked L to sleep with her is because they both have nightmares about either the crimes they've faced, but mostly about their parents. When they were still at Wammy's, their rooms were right next to each other: L had the dorm next to where the girls' dorms started, and Sunny was the girl in the room next to him. This way, they came to comfort each other because they could hear one another's distress, and a tradition was born. So maybe it seems like it's for fluff, but shemurr, I'm not changing it because it makes perfect sense to me!**

**Thanks to those who've reviewed! Remember, I can only get better if you guys tell me what's wrong with me!**

**Also, thanks to CodenameJellybean! Best beta reader one could ever ask for, and all you HP fans out there? Check out her stories! I'm serious, she's amazing.**

**Well, I think that's about it. If you have any comments or questions you'd like me to answer, post a review, and if it doesn't give away the plot, I'll answer it in my next AN. Also, I do not know when the next chapter will be posted, but I'm giving myself a deadline; it should be up within 2 weeks, and no longer. So please bear with me!**

**Yup, that's all for now. Bye guys! :)**

**Rafa-chan**


	3. Sugar Pots, FBI Agents, and Light

_Last time on __**No Matter What**__..._

_Puzzled, she got up from her desk to see what was causing the commotion. As she entered the crowd that had gathered near the man's desk, she heard people say, "He's done it now." And "How did he know?" Intrigued and heavily mystified, she ducked under an opening to see the papers on the desk clearly. She squinted to see the title and gasped in shock._

**How is this possible?! How is Kira killing off criminals by the hour?!**

3 DAYS LATER

"What?! T-there were another 23 heart attack victims yesterday?!"

"Yes Chief."

The Chief looked absolutely shell-shocked as he said, "The day before, there were another 23 victims. One at every hour..."

One of the reporting officers nodded. "The fact that this has continued for two weekdays straight..."

"...means that our sketch of the culprit has become doubtful." The other finished.

Sunny could hear everything from where she was positioned at. _'No, that's unlikely. The culprit is still most likely a student. And even if he isn't, at least we found out that he can manipulate the time of the victims' death. No human being could stay up that long without almost collapsing from exhaustion, and Kira wouldn't want to be caught by the police so early...'_

"No, anyone could skip school for two days..." It seemed as if even the officers sitting at their desks had joined the conversation.

"That's not it!" Sunny whirled around, and when her eyes found what she was looking for, she smiled.

_'Ryuu...'_ He sounded angry. Sunny furrowed her brows in puzzlement. What could he be angry about? The loss of life? It had never bothered him before. The fact that their theory had holes? No, he had dealt with worse on other cases. So what was it...

"It does appear less likely now that Kira is a student..."

_'Um, not really. He only changed his times after the meeting 3 days ago. That's pretty suspicious, don't you think, Ryuu?'_

"...but that's not the message Kira's trying to send at all!"

The whole room went quiet under a tense, electrified silence. Everyone had tuned their faces towards the man in black and the small laptop he held.

Taking this as a good sign, L continued. "Why one every hour? And why are all the victims in prisons, where they can be easily found? Kira is trying to say that..."

The room leaned in closer, each daring the other officers to breathe.

"...he can freely control the time of death."

It was like a bomb had gone off in the room. A bomb of shock, silence, fear, and awe. In its wake, it left the officers speechless and wide-eyed, each for different reasons.

Sunny smiled yet again. _'Ryuu, I bet you're insulting their intelligence levels in your head now, aren't you?' _Her face became serious again. _'However...'_

"However, something's not right. As soon as we began to suspect that Kira was a student, the timing of the killings changed as if to contradict our theory. Is it a coincidence? No, the timing is too convenient. Does that mean Kira knows what the police know?"

The Chief spluttered. "A-are you saying there might be a leak? That one of us might be helping Kira?"

Sunny rose immediately to say what was on her mind. "Chief, I don't think that's it. All of us in here are genuinely trying to catch Kira. Here are two things that could've happened: A) Kira is just a brilliant hacker or B) Kira is close to one of the officers in here, close enough so that the officer might have accidentally said something crucial in their presence simply because they felt relaxed with that person."

The Chief narrowed his eyes in disbelief. "They felt relaxed with that person?" He repeated skeptically.

Sunny swallowed unnoticeably as she realized everyone was looking at her. _'Agh! Stupidmouthstupidmouthstupidstupidstupid!' _She took a deep breath and lifted her chin up a bit more. _'I won't go back though; I'll stand by what I just said.' _"Yes. It's possible. You always feel more relaxed with people close to you. Perhaps the officer didn't even realize what he or she said until now. "

The whole room was silent again, until L spoke up. "That's a viable option Kobayashi-san. Thank you." Sunny bowed slightly in the direction of the computer and sat down with an inaudible sigh of relief. _'Phew! That was dangerous; I just questioned the integrity of the police force! It's all thanks to Ryuu that they didn't tear me apart right then and there.'_

L now spoke to the rest of the room. "In any case, we need to find out who or what has been giving Kira information about our doings. If we find that link out, we may be that much closer to finding Kira."

The Chief seemed to accept this explanation, for he said. "Alright L, we'll look into it. In the meantime, I do believe it's time to go home. Good work everyone."

"Good night Chief!"

BACK AT THE CONDO

L looked through the evidence that Sunny and Watari had given him. Most of it was just information that backed up his theory while others contradicted him entirely! He'd have to have Sunny double check the credibility of these sources later.

He clicked on the student page that he Sunny had been looking up 3 days ago. He had told Sunny to make a profile for each of the first 50 in the Kanto region. Well, actually, he had _asked _her to make it. He knew how tired she was these days.

However, Sunny had taken up the ordeal. Of course, she hadn't gotten around to it, but she would, he knew she would. Until then, he was stuck with what he could figure out.

His dark, sleep-glazed eyes landed on the first name on the page. Light Yagami.

_"This Light Yagami isn't just anybody; he's the Chief's son!"_

L gave him a look over and then decided he would look him up himself. One less person for Sunny to profile, and besides, he was really curious about this Light Yagami.

He typed Light Yagami's name into the computer, and the results left him wide-eyed and thoroughly interested. As he scrolled through the search results, he couldn't help but think, _'Light Yagami, who exactly are you?'_

SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA...

"Hello?"

"Is this the residence of Raye Penber?" The man in question looked at the phone in confusion before answering with,

"Yes, what do you want?

"I need your help with the Kira case. You and eleven other FBI agents will be sent to Japan this week to spy on the families of the Japanese police force. Do you accept?"

The dark-haired man gripped the phone tighter and said, "I'm in."

BACK IN JAPAN

Sunny walked home tonight. She had told Watari that she was going to go pick up a few things and that she'd be able to get home on her own. Watari had protested against it initially, but when he saw how determined Sunny was, he let her go reluctantly.

After Watari had driven away, Sunny started walking home, enjoying the cold air and the snow that was softly falling over the city.

She had wanted to get L that sugar pot she had seen a month ago. It was big enough to hold his sugar intake, and it was of an extremely durable material. However, the best part had to be the dragons that curled themselves around the pot.

Whereas the pot itself was whiter than the snow she was walking through, the dragons were blacker than the night sky in the countryside, and the gold decorations on them burned like fire when held to the light. The bigger dragon circled around the bottom of the pot, and his head rose up majestically, almost as if it were guarding the tea. The second dragon curled protectively around the rim of the lid, like a miniature version of the 1st dragon.

Sunny smiled at the thought of it. She had never told Ryuu about that pot because she wanted to get him the pot for Christmas. And since it was now just around the corner...

She stepped into the shop and was greeted by a sweet cinnamon-and-ginger scent. She breathed deeply and sighed. She would've loved to stay in here and just breathe in the scented air, but she had a job to do.

She moved quickly through the aisles, not bothering to look at anything else, and searched for the pot. If she was correct, it would be right there in the back with all the other sugar pots.

When she got to the back, her mouth dropped open in shock. The store had gotten more sugar pots than when she was last here! All around her, she saw pots of all sizes and colors. Most of them were the traditional white, but there were some that were blue, green, and red. There were even some that were tie-dyed!

Sunny began to despair. Watari and Ryuu expected her to be back soon, probably in around 15 minutes, and she still had 10 minutes of walking time left! How was she ever going to find the pot in all this mess?!

As she gazed around the shelves again, she saw it: the sugar pot she was looking for. It was on an upper shelf, and it was between a blue sugar pot and a red sugar pot. She breathed out a sigh of relief. Now the only problem was being able to reach the sugar pot.

She moved closer to the shelf and outstretched her hand. It fell short. She stood on her tiptoes. It fell short.

Huffing in frustration, she looked around for a chair or stool she could stand on. Finding none, she turned back to the pot, and sighing, tried again.

As she reached futilely for the pot, a shadow came behind and easily took down the pot she'd been trying so hard for.

"Here you go Miss," she heard as she turned around. In front of her stood a well-polished student. He had carefully combed brown hair, warm brown eyes, and a polite smile on his face. He was offering her the pot he had taken down from the shelf earlier.

"T-thank you!" she exclaimed. She took the pot from his hands and gingerly held it, cradling it almost. It was as perfect as she remembered. A beautiful, creamy white, a gold-topped handle, and the two dragons curling protectively around the pot. _'Yes,'_ she thought, _'Ryuu would love this.'_

"Miss, if you don't mind my asking, why did you decide to go for that particular pot?"

She looked up to see a quizzical glint in the boy's eyes. "Well, I'm buying this for my friend as a Christmas present. He loves dragons almost as much as he loves sugar!" She shook her head and grinned in amusement. "Really, he's like a little kid!"

He chuckled at that. "Sounds like an interesting person!"

She sighed briefly. "Yeah, he is."

Just then, her phone rang. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She pulled out her phone, and her eyes widened slightly. _'Ryuu?! Why's he calling me?! He never calls!'_

She looked back at the student apologetically and said, "Sorry, I'll have to take this call."

"No problem," he said smoothly.

She walked away from the boy and positioned her back to him before picking up the phone. "Hello?"

"Sunny, where are you?" Even in his blank voice, Sunny could hear the worry.

"Gah! Sorry, Okaa-san! I was just trying to find something in that shop Obaa-chan and I used to go to. I'm nearly done, so don't worry, I'll be home soon!"

The line on the other was silent for only a minute. Then he said, "Get back quickly, I have something to tell you. Don't fall back on your way here, understand?"

Sunny mentally scowled. "Of course Okaa-san! I won't, I promise. Bye!" She clicked the end button.

"Sounds like your Okaa-san must be worried about you."

She turned around, heart pounding frantically. Had he heard Ryuu's voice?

If he did, he gave no signs he had. "Ah, yeah. She gets overly worried at times." Sunny looked at her watch. _'No wonder Ryuu's worried! It's been 20 minutes since I last talked to Watari!'_

She looked back up at the boy and said, "Well, it was nice talking to you! Ah, I almost forgot! I'm Sanako Kobayashi." She bowed in greeting. "Nice to meet you..."

She looked up and watched as the student bowed and stood back up straight. "It was nice to meet you Kobayashi-san. My name is Light Yagami."

**AN- Hey guys! I'm so sorry that this is late; first I had All-State the week after I posted chappie 2 and then I had make up work to do (and yes, the rhyming was intentional). Just know that I will announce if I am going off into a hiatus (I'll define a hiatus as 3 weeks or more); otherwise, the story should be posted either every week or every other week.**

**And since we're on the subject, I might as well give you a heads-up now: when exams start, I will not be updating any stories or posting any one shots. Exams start in mid-April, so I should be able to get 3-4 more chapters in. For those of you who read these Author's Notes, you will know when I get on hiatus because I'll say it in the last chapter before exams. I WILL be back with more chapters after exams end, approximately in mid-May, so please bear with me!**

**I must also apologize for the length of this chapter. I was originally going to make it longer, but when I added the other parts, it just didn't flow the way I wanted it to. So I cut out that part, and it is now the beginning of chappie 4. You know what that means...**

**I'd like to thank my beta-reader Codename Jellybean for all her hard work; if it wasn't for you, this story would not be as good as it is now.**

**I think that's all; please remember to review: questions, suggestions, anything is welcome!**

**Bye for now!**

**Rafa-chan**

**P.S. Ryuu means dragon in Japanese, and since L always calls himself either Ryuuga or Ryuuzaki, I always thought he liked dragons. (shrugs) Maybe it's just me.**


	4. Nightmares, Fluff, and Eggs:Sunnyside up

_Last time on **No Matter What...**_

"_Sounds like your Okaa-san must be worried about you."_

_She turned around, heart pounding frantically. Had he heard Ryuu's voice?_

_If he did, he gave no signs he had. "Ah, yeah. She gets overly worried at times." Sunny looked at her watch. _**'No wonder Ryuu's worried! It's been 20 minutes since I last talked to Watari!'nN**

_She looked back up at the boy and said, "Well, it was nice talking to you! Ah, I almost forgot! I'm Sanako Kobayashi." She bowed in greeting. "Nice to meet you..."_

_She looked up and watched as the student bowed and stood back up straight. "It was nice to meet you Kobayashi-san. My name is Light Yagami."_

LATER

Even after the walk back home, Sunny's head was still reeling. She had met Light Yagami. Light Yagami, who was the Chief's son. Light Yagami, who was the top student in the Kanto region. And Light Yagami, who Ryuu, even though he hadn't said it yet, had at the top of his suspect list.

She quietly opened the door and blinked in surprise. The lights were on!

She stepped into the room only to find another surprise. Ryuu was on the sofa!

He looked up from his tea. "You're back."

She set her stuff down near an easy chair. "Yep."

He looked her over. "Where have you been?"

She shot him a sly smile and put a finger to her lips. "It's a secret." She started putting her coat away. "So, what did you have to tell me?"

L watched silently as she put away her coat, as if trying to decipher where she had been. Evidently, he found nothing, for he said,

"I'm bringing the FBI into the Kira case."

Sunny froze, then whirled around. "What?" she asked disbelievingly.

L took another sip from his tea. "I said I'm bringing the FBI into the Kira case, Sunny."

Sunny crossed her arms. "Why?"

L looked down at his cup. "From the fact that Kira has started killing off one criminal per hour, it was assumed that Kira had access to police information." L looked up at Sunny as if confirming what he already knew.

Sunny nodded. "Go on."

"One of the most logical points to assume is that Kira might be a part of their families. Now, this may or may not be true, but it's worth a shot assuming." L started to stack all his sugar cubes into one big tower.

Sunny put the dots together. Her eyes widened. "D-don't tell me you're going to have the families of the police force followed!"

L looked up. "Yes, that is exactly what I intend to do. And no, not all families will be under supervision. Those with a child in high school will be the only ones to have an FBI agent spying on them."

Sunny gaped. Then she shook her head. "Ryuu, this is a bad idea. The police force doesn't trust you at all already; what if you're caught?!"

L turned his gaze back to the stack of sugar cubes that were now precariously towering over him. "Yes, I suppose it is bad if they knew about it. However..." He looked up at Sunny with a slight, conspiratorial smile. "They don't have to know about it, do they?"

Sunny smiled and shook her head. "I suppose not, Ryuu. I suppose not."

1 HOUR LATER

"No Sunny."

Sunny sighed in exasperation. "Come on Ryuu, you need to eat!"

"But I'm not hungry."

"Why would you be?" Sunny muttered under her breath. "All you eat all day is sugar, sugar, and more sugar."

"Sugar gives my brain the calories it needs to think at such a high level. You should know that by now, Sunny."

Sunny hugged his waist and rested her head on his right shoulder. "Yes, I know, but Ryuu, it ruins your appetite for actual meals like breakfast, lunch, and dinner!"

"What are those."

Sunny chuckled. "You know what those are Ryuu, don't play dumb!"

"Do they relate to the Kira case?"

"Hm, let's see. I'm pretty sure he eats his eggs in the morning sunny-side up."

"Really now."

"Yes, he seems like that sort of guy. Really cheerful."

L let out a silent scoff. "Yes, because someone who has the ability to kill off criminals by the hour and does so is definitely cheerful enough to like his eggs sunny-side up."

Sunny removed her arms from him and stood up, grinning. "Yeah."

L looked up at her. "Are you going to sleep?"

"Yep. God knows what Kira's going to throw at us tomorrow!"

L regarded her carefully. "Will you be fine by yourself or..."

Sunny waved off his concern. "I'll be fine. Don't worry ok?" She leaned down and pecked him on his left cheek. "G'night Ryuu."

As she walked out of the room she heard L say something behind her.

"Good night Sunny."

AND SO SHE DREAMED...

_Lights. Screams. The smell of smoke and destruction._

_ You open your eyes, but then you quickly shut them. It's too much. It's too dizzying._

_ "She's alive!"_

_ "But only barely. She's inhaled too much smoke; we need to get her to a hospital right now!"_

_**'What's happening? Where are Mamma and Pappa?'**_

_You try to speak, but all that comes out is a strangled wheezing noise, followed by a hacking cough._

_ Someone rushes over to you and smoothes your hair back. "Shhh," they whisper, "It'll be alright. You're safe now."_

_**'Who is she? Where am I? I want Mamma and Pappa!'**_

_"She's flailing around too much! Someone calm her down!"_

_**'Mamma, Pappa help!'**_

_You continue to struggle away from the strangers' grips. Why can't they see you just want your parents?_

_ "Here, hold her still! I've got some sedatives!"_

_ Instantly you're trapped in an iron grip. You keep struggling and struggling... but it's no use. You try to scream again for your Mamma and Pappa, but the smoke in your throat turns your scream into a panicked wheeze._

_ "Hold still now, dear. It will only hurt just a little bit..."_

_ You tense up, and as the needle pierces the overly tender skin of your fore arm, you let out a silent scream._

_ "There! That wasn't so bad now, was it?"_

_ Tears fall from your closed eyes. __**'It hurts so much... help, Mamma, Pappa...'**_

_Sharp sirens screech in the night, and you can feel some one pick you up and put you on what you take to be a stretcher. __**'NO! NO, LET ME GO!'**_

_Again, your attempts at struggling are futile, and as the sedatives run their course through your veins, you find yourself fighting against the tendrils of sleep that threaten to pull you down into a dark oblivion._

_ In a last attempt to stay awake, you open your eyes. As you're carried away into the ambulance, you see the flames licking up at the sky. They are the color of the sun and bright autumn leaves, and the destruction around them forms a pyre for those who've been caught up inside their wrath._

_ That's where your parents are; you can feel it. And with that feeling comes despair. A despair as thick as the lump in your throat, as heavy as your body feels with the sedatives that have just about done their work. So you stop fighting for the first time since you woke up, and as you succumb to the darkness, the acrid smell of smoke lingers in your senses, still there long after you've fallen asleep._

Sunny shot out of bed, gasping for breath. As always after moments like this, she waits for the memory to get out of her system, waits for the safety of reality to come back to her. As her ragged, erratic breathing calms down, she turns to her right to see L entering the room with a glass of water and his trademarked impassive look, though if she looks carefully, she can see the slight hint of worry in his glazed black eyes.

He handed her the glass of water and watched intently as she gulped it all down. She finished it off with a sigh and laid the glass on the table beside her bed.

"Thanks," she croaked out.

"It's nothing."

They stared at each other in silence before he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her head against his chest. Almost immediately, she relaxed into his arms and felt her tension abate. She slowly brought up her arms to wrap around him and pulled him even closer.

L took one of his hands and smoothed down her hair. As he repeated the action, Sunny felt her remaining tension fade away, leaving a sense of calm and safety behind.

They stay like that until Sunny realized she's trembling. L pulled back and looked into her face. "What is it?"

She bit her lip and shakes her head. "I'm fine Ryuu," she looked up and put on an exhausted, close-eyed smile. "I'm just tired, that's all."

Without a word, L released her from his embrace, walks over to the other side of the bed, and climbed in.

Sunny blushed. "I-it's fine Ryuu, you can go back to work! I'm f-fine, really!" she squeaked.

L stared at her blankly. "While that may be the case, I'm tired, and I think the case can wait another day. Besides, you're the one who told me to get more sleep."

Sunny sighed in defeat. "Ok, you win."

L didn't even blink; he just pulled her closer and reached over her to turn off the light. The two held each other, each reassuring the other that they were not alone. And as the darkness enveloped them, they both drifted off into a dreamless, peaceful sleep.

IN THE MORNING

"Don't you have work today?"

Sunny looked away from the microwave. She shook her head and grinned. "Nope! At least, not until later. I have the night shift tonight, so I'll be leaving at around 10 in the evening per say and returning at around 7 am tomorrow morning." She turned back to the microwave as it started beeping. She took out her cup and put her left index finger in the milk. It was warm.

Satisfied with its temperature, she then turned to get the chocolate syrup, only to find L licking a fat glob of it off his finger.

She huffed in exasperation. "Alright Ryuu, give it back now."

L looked away from the syrup and blinked at her blankly, before deliberately pouring another generous amount of syrup on his finger and licking it yet again.

Sunny face-palmed. "Seriously Ryuu, you can have it back after I make my chocolate milk."

To this, L just held the syrup close to his chest and hunched his shoulders even more.

"...Really? You like chocolate so much you won't even share it with me?"

A stare.

A sigh. "Fine, you win then. I'll just drink my chocolate-less milk now..."

Before she'd even finished the sentence, L had handed her the bottle before shuffling out of the room listlessly. She blinked, and smiled slowly.

_'Ah Ryuu, you can act so sweet at times...'_

14 HOURS LATER

_'Alright, let's see... bag? Check. Notepad? Check. Pens and pencils? Check. Cellphone? Check...'_

"Are you getting ready to leave?"

"GAH!" Sunny jumped and spun around to see a blank-faced L. "Geez, Ryuu! You scared me quite a bit back there!"

"My sincere apologies," he said drily.

Sunny chuckled at that. "In response to your question, yes, I am getting ready to leave. In fact, I was just about to head out."

To this, L only said, "Bring me back some evidence if you can."

Sunny cocked an eyebrow. "Of course I will. Don't I always?"

L's mouth twitched, and he nodded slightly.

Sunny smiled. "Well, that's all there is to it then." Her gaze ambled to her watch. "I should be off now, Watari's probably waiting for me." She slung her bag over her shoulder and threw her arms around L in a quick hug. "I'll be back tomorrow morning at 7, 'kay Ryuu?"

L nodded once and watched as Sunny ran out the door and to the elevator, all the while waving good-bye back at him. When the elevator came, she stepped into it. Before the doors closed, she waved one last good-bye at him, and this time, he waved back.

MEANWHILE, AT NARITA AIRPORT

A young couple step off the plane at the airport. This is his first time in Japan; however, she is returning for the first time in a long time.

As they navigate through the hustle and bustle that is the Narita Airport, the man wonders how he'll be able to complete his mission here. Already he was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people in Japan, and he was just at the airport!

Speaking of his mission, it was a rather strange one. He could still remember the phone call that led to all of this. After all, it wasn't everyday one got called by the legendary L...

APPROXIMATELY 1 DAY AGO

_ "Hello?"_

_ "Is this the residence of Raye Penber?" The man in question looked at the phone in confusion before answering with,_

_ "Yes, what do you want?_

_ "I need your help with the Kira case. You and eleven other FBI agents will be sent to Japan this week to spy on the families of the Japanese police force. Do you accept?"_

_ The dark-haired man gripped the phone tighter and said, "I'm in."_

_ "Good. Now, listen carefully. Each agent will be assigned a 'family' to spy on. Your family will be Chief Soichiro Yagami's family. I want you to keep a close eye on his son, Light Yagami, especially. Have I made myself clear?"_

_ Raye Penber pulled the phone closer to his ears. "Yes, but..."_

_ "But what?"_

_ He hesitated, and then asked, "Why are you having us investigate the families of the police force?"_

_ There was silence on the other end of the line. When the other person finally spoke he (or she, Raye couldn't tell because of the strange auto tune) said, "This is top secret information. What I am about to tell you must never be revealed to anyone else. Do you understand?"_

_ Raye's knuckles turned completely white. "Yes, I understand."_

_ The voice on the other end of the line seemed to find this answer satisfactory, for it said, "There has been a leak in the police force. Do not gasp nor draw attention to yourself. Yes, it is true the police force has a leak in it. That is why I want you and eleven other FBI agents to go to Japan to spy on them. You will not see each other by the way I've planned it. However, if you do meet someone else, you should just act normal and not talk about the mission you are carrying."_

_ "Ok. When do we leave?"_

_ "Preferably today at a later time. Do not worry; all travel arrangements have been made and all expenses have been paid. All that is left for you to do is find a place for you to stay during the mission. I assume you can do that much."_

_ "Yes..."_

_ "Good. That will be all. It was nice talking with you, Raye Penber."_

_ "Wait! Before you go, can you please tell me who you are?"_

_ The line went quiet before the voice repeats, "Who I am?" in an almost disbelieving tone._

_ "I-I'd just like to know who I'm working for, that's all..."_

_ The voice sighed. "Very well, I suppose I can tell you. Good day Mr. Penber. I am L."_

NOW

"Are you okay dear?" A black gloved hand landed on his shoulder. He looked down to see his fiancé, Naomi Misora, looking up worriedly at him.

He smiled reassuringly back at her. "I'm fine honey! So, where do we head next?"

"Well..."

And the couple started weaving its way through the crowds of the Narita Airport once more, him now ready for the mission he faced, and her worrying about the safety of her fiancé.

It turns out she was right to worry.

**A.N. If you look in the thesaurus, I'm pretty sure you'll find Life as a synonym for insanity. Life is just so insane that not even a millennium of treatment could cure it!**

**As you can guess, I've been really busy since I last saw you guys. There were tournaments to go to, concerts to sing at, oh yeah, and then there was that little impromptu party I had to go to too... ugh!**

**I wasn't the only one busy this week either; my beta reader, Codename-Jellybean (or CJ) was busy too, so this chapter is being posted without her supervision. Still, look her up guys! She's a really good author!**

**Again, I'm sorry it's so late. It's mainly late because A) I don't want to compromise my health while writing this story and B) I want this story, each and every chapter of it, to be the best that it can be. For _you guys. _And I can't do that if I'm seriously sleep deprived.**

**Announcements: I will not be posting after the second week of April because of final exams. I will resume the story after the 1st week of May when the exams are finally finished. Just know that I will continue this story and that I will be back after a month. This is not to say that this is the last chapter before the hiatus; I am merely announcing when the hiatus will start and end.**

**That should be all. As always, please remember to review. Questions, comments, criticism, and suggestions are all welcome; they can only make the quality of this story better.**

**Bye for now!**

**Rafa-chan. **


	5. Kira, Idiot Officers, and Stupid Blushes

_Last time on __**No Matter What**__..._

_ "Are you okay dear?" A black gloved hand landed on his shoulder. He looked down to see his fiancé, Naomi Misora, looking up worriedly at him._

_ He smiled reassuringly back at her. "I'm fine honey! So, where do we head next?"_

_ "Well..."_

_ And the couple started weaving its way through the crowds of the Narita Airport once more, him now ready for the mission he faced, and her worrying about the safety of her fiancé._

_ It turns out she was right to worry._

4 DAYS LATER

Sunny yawned and stretched her arms out. It had been 4 days since the FBI had arrived in Japan. Many of them had started to trail their target families as soon as they'd been able to get out of the airport while others chose to settle down, think their mission through, and then start trailing their target families. Raye Penber just so happened to be the latter.

Sunny didn't know Raye Penber personally; however, she did know his fiancé. Naomi Misora was a legend in the FBI; she was the person who had solved the Beyond Birthday case alongside L (and her!). Of course, since L always sent her to spy on the police forces they'd work with when solving cases, Sunny had had the pleasure of meeting the legend herself.

Naomi Misora was a strong, independent woman who was passionate about her work; not to mention, she was extremely good at it too. Therefore, it came to Sunny as a surprise when she'd heard through the grapevine that Naomi Misora was quitting her career at the FBI in order to marry a fellow FBI agent, Raye Penber. Naomi had seemed like that last person to do that kind of thing, and yet...

She shook her head. It wasn't her place to be thinking this; what Naomi did with her life was her decision. Besides, Sunny knew that Naomi had a level head on her shoulders; she would be fine...

Right?

THE NEXT MORNING...

As Chief Yagami prepared himself for another day of trying to catch Kira, his phone rang. Considering it to be a call from his superiors, he picked it up, yawning as he did so.

"Hello? Yes, it's me," he mumbled tiredly. "Another 6 people in prison? Heart attacks?" He leaned back. "It's Kira then." He relaxed and thought about how nice it would be to go home and just sleep.

However, what the person on the phone said next erased all thoughts of sleep from his mind. "What? Three of the people did something unprecedented right before they died?" From the back of the room, a man in a black hat and trench coat started typing something on his laptop. He raised his eyes and listened for more.

"W-what do you mean? Didn't they just die of heart attacks?" A little bit of panic had crept into the Chief's voice now, and what he heard next boggled his mind completely.

**"No, three of them died normally, but one of them, right before he died, cut his finger and drew a strange picture on the wall..."**

The Chief looked down at the picture in his hand. It seemed to be a bloody pentagram inside of a circle. As he moved to the next piece of evidence, the voice on the other line said, **"Another left a note. It's not a will... truth be told, I haven't faintest clue as to what it's supposed to be."**

As the Chief inspected the note, he became confused too. The note said,

"_Looks like whatever I_

_Do, I'll be executed. Or, like_

_You must suspect, I_

_Know I'll be killed by Kira."_

"Odd," the chief murmured. He was so intrigued by the note that he almost missed what the third criminal did.

**"The third one escaped from prison only to die in a public bathroom."**

"Anything else?"

**"No, that's all."**

"Alright then. Thank you for the evidence and information. We'll analyze the evidence now and get back to you as soon as possible."

**"Thank you."**

As the Chief put down the phone, he didn't notice the man in the trench coat send an email of the evidence to another person...

BACK AT THE CONDO...

Sunny was startled awake as the computer beeped with Watari's email. L was already by the computer, so she silently padded her way across the cold wood floor and sat down next to him, pulling her knees underneath her as she did so.

"What is it, Watari?" L asked in an alert whisper, not giving away the fact that only moments ago, he'd been sleeping alongside Sunny.

Watari's voice came through the computer. "A little while ago, some heart attack victims different from what we've seen before were discovered."

"Different from what we've seen before?" L repeated.

Sunny tilted her head. "How so, Watari?"

Watari answered with, "I'm sending pictures of the drawing and note left at the scenes of the deaths."

"Thank you," L said the same time Sunny said, "Please do."

Instantly, 3 pictures popped up. One was a photograph of a pentagram in a circle. It seemed as if it was made with blood. Another was an image of a dead body in a public restroom. Still another was a photocopy of a strange note left behind at the crime scene.

L scrutinized the evidence, then turned to Sunny and asked, "What do you make of this, Sunny?"

Sunny chewed her bottom lip and released it slowly. "Well... really, all I can figure out is how apt the pentagram and what little it reveals about Kira."

"How so?"

"Well, traditionally, the pentagram is most commonly known as being the sign of the devil. If Kira is a person, perhaps a student, who exhibits what he claims is god-like behavior, then through this image, we can see that he subconsciously thinks that criminals are evil. Which doesn't really give us much to work with," she admitted apologetically.

"And the note?" he prompts.

She shot him a withering look. "Ryuu, even _you _could figure out that the note means he's scared of what Kira might do to him."

"So you think that then..." he murmured, unconsciously biting his thumb.

"Yes." Sunny started to absentmindedly draw figures on the cold wood floor. "What do you think, Ryuu?"

L took his thumb out of his mouth. "Well, I agree with you in that it seems as if the person who wrote the note was terribly scared that Kira may kill him, however..." he turned to her, and she could almost see the gears shifting in his mind, could almost hear them change as he rearranged the evidence in his mind. "What if it wasn't just something the criminal did on his own?"

Sunny furrowed her brows in confusion. "Wha-" and then she stopped. And L could hear the click of the last piece of the puzzle as it settled into her mind.

She looked at him with a grave look on her face. "You think Kira did this."

"Yes."

"Why?"

L turned to the computer and scrolled through the rest of evidence. "Well, it's simple really. Kira can control the time of death. Isn't it possible he can also control someone's actions right before they die?"

Sunny blinked. "Well, why now then?"

L started to bite his thumb again. "Perhaps he's trying to test his limits; he's trying to see how far he can or cannot go."

Sunny turned over the foreign concept in her mind, toying with it, getting to know it. "I suppose what you're saying makes sense," she began slowly, "Couple it with the fact that all 3 people died of heart attacks after performing some kind of absurd task..."

"So you believe me?" he asked.

Sunny looked up from her nonexistent scribbles on the floor and into L's eyes. "Yes, Ryuu, I believe you. But the real question is, will the police?"

"That doesn't matter." L said confidently, turning back to the computer.

Sunny gazed at him in amazement. "Ryuu, of course it matters! I mean, you're working with them to catch Kira. I should think it matters whether or not they'll believe you."

L kept looking at the computer. "What I meant to say, is that while it does matter whether or not the police will believe me, they're not my priority. You are, Sunny. If I can't make you believe me, I'll have no support when I'm going into the situation. Besides, while I can convince the police what I'm saying and thinking is what we should go on," he tilted his head to the side to make eye contact with her, "I can't convince you. Even if I tried, it would be extremely hard to do." With that, he turned back to the computer.

As Sunny stared at him (again), she tried to fight the blush rising up to her face. And failed. Miserably.

She sighed under her breath. L never complimented her that much, but whenever he did, she turned into a fluttering, flustering mess. She knew why of course. In fact, she had known for a long time that she was in love with her best friend. Her smart (no way, really?!), eccentric, sweet-loving best friend...

...who was now talking with the police on his findings. Sunny snapped out of her daze and shook her head, trying to get herself into the discussion.

"About these most recent victims... Please don't announce to the press anything other than the fact they died of heart attacks."

From the camera, Sunny could see all the people in the room. However, her focus was on the Chief with his dark, stormy, and focused expression.

L paused before moving on. "It is possible that Kira is using these criminals as participants in some sort of tests. If that's the case, then we'd just be going out of our way to tell him the results."

The room looked tired in the beginning; however, at L's announcement, Sunny thought she could detect shock, disgust, and disbelief etched onto their faces.

"U-understood. We'll do as you say, L." '_Poor Chief. He's about to reach his limit. Hopefully, he won't break.'_

L turned the mic and camera off while Sunny sighed and got more comfortable. It was time to sift through the new evidence.

5 MINUTES LATER

"Hey Ryuu?"

"Yes?"

"What you said earlier, about Kira testing those 3 criminals... what about the 3 that did nothing before they died of heart attacks? Is there a possibility that they were a part of the test too?"

L turned to her. "Yes, it is extremely possible. In fact, I was just thinking that they were the failures of the particular test that Kira wanted to run." He turned to the computer and read the note again.

Sunny propped her head on her right hand and started to scribble again. "Why would he toy around with the prisoners though?"

L bit his thumb. "Perhaps... it's because he's trying to test his ability to kill. I would bet that those 3 people who died doing nothing strange beforehand were the ones with which he'd overstepped his boundaries."

Sunny was quiet for a moment, and then murmured worriedly, "Ryuu, do you think Kira suspects that he's being followed by the FBI?"

"You're assuming that he is one of the people that I have being followed," he stated monotonously.

Sunny lifted her chin in defiance. "Yes, yes I am."

"That's a dangerous assumption, Sunny. Don't go making theories you don't have any real evidence to back up with."

Sunny huffed. "Humor me, Ryuu, and answer my question."

At this L looked away from his computer once more, sighing as he did so. "To tell you the truth Sunny, I honestly don't know what to think. This case is definitely different from the cases we've taken on before."

Sunny's eyes widened. For L to admit this...

She scooted closer to him and put her arms around his hunched over frame. She hugged him with all her might, and said, "It's going to be fine Ryuu. We'll have Kira in custody before this time next year!"

L let out a sigh of indulgence and hugged her back. "I hope so Sunny, I hope so."

LATER THAT DAY

Sunny got up and stretched out her sore limbs. She looked down at her partner and friend. Even though he was still in the same position he had been for over 5 hours now, and even though his dark eyes still darted back and forth across the screen, she knew him well enough to know when he was hungry, even when he didn't know it himself.

"I'm going to go see what I can find for an impromptu lunch. Anything you'd like to eat?"

"Strawberry shortcake and tea, please." He didn't even glance at her as he said this.

She smiled amusedly. "With lots of sugar?"

A nonchalant "Hm," was all she received as an answer.

She laughed. "Alright then. I'll be back in about ten minutes or so."

"Ok." His eyes never once left the screen. They darted back and forth, left and right, picking up more and more information with each swoop.

He couldn't pinpoint exactly when she'd left the room; he just sort of knew when she was gone.

After scanning the screen for a few more minutes, he leaned back on his feet and chewed his thumb and tried to analyze the vast amount of information he'd been presented with.

_'If Kira was using these criminals for some sort of test, perhaps it's in order to start something...'_

He bit into his thumb with a vengeance. _'However, the FBI might notice someone acting suspiciously. But, if he had some purpose other than tests... Are this note and this picture some kind of message? Not the picture, Sunny already told me what that means... but the note?"_

And suddenly, it clicked. _'This is...'_

His eyes scanned the screen again, this time, only brushing over the top letters of the note, which formed the message, "L, do you know..."

_'Do I know what? What is Kira trying to tell me? More importantly, what is he going to do next?'_

1 DAY LATER (I used to have such funny time skips... *sighs*)

Sunny's eyes flicked over the sheets she was reading in boredom. While the others kept on investigating the Kira case, she was left with the case of Osoreda Kiichiro. Those imbeciles! Sunny sighed in frustration as she remembered how she got the case...

_As Sunny walked into the room, she grabbed a glass of water from the cooler. She walked over to her desk, sat down, and was preparing to work on the Kira case when a sheaf of papers was thrown onto her desk carelessly._

_**'What...'**__ Sunny looked up from her bag at the smiling- no, politely smirking would be more like it- face of one her co-workers. Sunny clucked her tongue silently. This was not going to end well._

_ "Good morning. Is there any reason why you should be at my desk instead of yours?" Sunny asked cordially._

_ The man's smirk turned into a pout. "Hey now! Don't be so mean, I only came to ask you somethin'!" His Cheshire-like grin returned. "Well, since you're probably wonderin' what it is, I'll tell ya! Ya see, this case came in today, and the person who brought it in said that one of us needed to write a report about it or somethin'. It was left up for grabs, and since nobody wanted to take it, well, we thought maybe you could do it for us now," he drawled out lazily._

_ Sunny glared at him. "Did it not occur to you that I may have work that I'd need to finish as well?" she spoke frigidly._

_ He pouted again. "Aw, come on now! It's only a little bit of work! Ya won't mind, would ya? I mean, you always leave after everyone else anyways?" Sunny started to fume. However, before she could say anything, the man's friends arrived. One of them clapped him on the shoulder and said, "Oi, you joinin' us for lunch or what?"_

_ "Yeah, yeah. I'm comin'!" He turned to her and gave her another smirk. "Well then, see ya later miss, and thanks again for takin' on the case." And he hightailed it off before Sunny was even able to form a word..._

Sunny ground her teeth in irritation. _'Those bastards!' _They were taking advantage of her skills! And how she hated people taking advantage of her...

_'Well, it doesn't really matter. In a few days, more likely than not, Ryuu will ask for the police to become more involved in the work. He'll ask for those who aren't scared of this threat and are ready to face Kira. These idiots would turn tail from THAT!' _Sunny smiled at that thought. Yes, it would be enough to get her going through until the end of the day.

She sighed again. "Best get started..." She took out her black notebook and flipped to an empty page before she outlined what she had to do that day. She would work on the Kira case in the morning. Then, after lunch, she'd finish the case of Osoreda Kiichiro. And after that, she'd continue the Kira case until it was time to go.

She frowned. Even though the Osoreda case seemed easy, it would _still_ get in the way of what she was really meant to do. Should she skip lunch then? No, Watari would certainly notice, and then he would tell L...

She huffed. There was no way around it; she'd have to stay and do overtime, or in her case, _extra_ overtime.

As she pulled out her Kira evidence, she thought, _'This is going to be a looong day.'_

TIMESKIPTOLUNCHYUMYUM! (I've decided I will make my time skips serious or funny depending on the mood...)

As people around her started shuffling out of the building for lunch break, Sunny finished up the last of her notes on the Kira case, for now at least. She penned down the last of her theories and closed her notebook shut. She leaned back into her chair and nearly groaned aloud at the thought of the work ahead of her.

_'Well,' _she thought determinedly, _'If Ryuu can do that much work, then so can I!'_

Speaking of which, she should really call L to tell him that she'd be working overtime today and that she'd be coming home later than usual.

She took out her phone, went into contacts, and pressed the button that had one of Ryuu's many aliases on it. She waited for him to pick up, all the while listening as it connected to his side.

"Sunny? Why are you calling me now?" he whispered. There was a slight tinge of worry to his voice.

Sunny smiled. "Ah, sorry, am I bothering you?"

"No."

"That's good to hear. Ryuu, I won't be returning until late tonight. Can you manage without me?" Sunny and L had both decided that he could be called Ryuu in public. After all, Ryuu could be a nickname for just about any Japanese name out there. Chances are, people would never suspect it to be the nickname of the world's greatest detective.

"Yes."

Her tone turned anxious. "You know what to do in case in you get hungry right? The tea leaves are in a different place now. I moved them to the first shelf instead of the top shelf..."

"Sunny, I'm fine. Go eat lunch."

Sunny sighed softly. "Sorry. I'm just slightly worried, that's all."

"There's no need to be. Now _go_," he commanded in a monotone.

Sunny chuckled quietly. "Alright. I will, I will. Bye Ryuu. Take care okay?"

"Okay." And with that, he hung up.

As Sunny was putting her cellphone away, she heard a timid but kind and curious voice say, "Was that your boyfriend, Kobayashi-san?"

"Eh?" Sunny turned around and casually swung her bag over her shoulder. Matsuda stood in front of her, fidgeting nervously.

"Ah! S-sorry, I shouldn't have asked that..." He turned his face away in embarrassment.

Sunny's face heated up as she realized what he had just asked. "N-no! Ryuu's just a f-friend! We, um, we know each other from school!" '_Smooth move, Sunny. You could've just gone along with it, but no, you had to stutter and stumble and make an utter fool of yourself.'_

"I-it's fine Kobayashi-san! I shouldn't have asked..."

An awkward silence hung in the air, until Sunny saved the situation by asking, "D-do you want to have lunch?"

"Ah? Sure!"

TIMESKIP- brought to you by SpongeBob's singing! (The Krusty Krab Pizza is the pizza for you and me!)

Sunny plopped down into her chair. She growled under her breath when the Osoreda case files caught her eye, and then sighed in defeat. _'Might as well start now and get it over with...'_

It was the not the most interesting case on the planet. Osoreda Kiichiro turned out to be a junkie in desperate need of some money to buy more drugs with. In fact, before his death, he had tried to rob a bank, failed, and escaped. On the day of his death, he hijacked a bus headed for an amusement park. However, apparently, he saw a "phantom", got extremely frightened, and ran off the bus, only to be hit by an oncoming car. Simple enough, yet...

As Sunny flipped through the witness accounts, one name stuck out to her. She read the transcript of the witness account. The witness was a high school senior. She had been going on a date with a guy from her class when the hijacker arrived on the bus. When the hijacker had arrived on the bus, her boyfriend had slipped her a note saying, _"Don't worry. Stay calm, act natural. I'll get the gun from him. When I do, duck." _She was going to do just that when the person behind them had told them not to go through with it. He proceeded to say that the plan was foolish, and that many more people could get hurt if they tried to act upon it. He then asked to help them.

Though she had been all for it, her boyfriend had said otherwise. He'd accused the man of being an accomplice of the hijacker. "Sometimes," he'd said, "the accomplice comes onto the bus first and acts as a regular passenger, only to ambush the other passengers later with the hijacker."

Sunny raised her eyebrows at this. She had heard many cases of bus jackings like this, but she had never heard of someone not involved with the police or crime knowing of cases like this. _'Too bad he's not a police officer...'_

The man had tried to proclaim his innocence when the boyfriend had demanded proof. Having no other option, the man had given them his ID card. He had been from the FBI.

Sunny stopped. The FBI? She hurriedly read through the rest of the account, hoping against hope that the twisting feeling in her gut was not true.

When the boyfriend had seen the card, he'd accepted the man's help, and they'd started to talk via notes before the hijacker had shot a gun and screamed for people on the bus to "stop sniveling". When that happened, the note had accidentally fallen to the floor.

The boyfriend had slowly bent down to get the note when the hijacker had noticed him. Before he could take the note back, the hijacker had reached down and grabbed the note, only to find date plans. After this, he'd allegedly seen the "phantom", gotten scared, stopped the bus, and ran out of the street into the path of the oncoming car.

At this point in the interview, the girl had started to cry. It was to be expected of course. She'd dealt with something extremely traumatic. To get her to stop crying, the interviewer had praised her boyfriend's courage. He'd said, "Well, what a great guy you had by your side! He was extremely calm and brave, wasn't he?"

The girl had calmed down enough to agree, "Yes, he was."

To calm her down further, the interviewer had asked, "Can we know the name of this splendid fellow?"

Sunny's eyes widened in shock as she stared down at the paper. _'I-it can't be...'_

There on the paper transcript, typed up in clear cut, pristine black ink was the name "Light Yagami."

**A.N. Hello readers! It's been quite a while since I saw you last, hasn't it? I made a longer chapter, though I know it won't do much. (Bows in shame and embarrassment) I'm sorry! I'm a really bad updater. Exams are coming up, but that really should be no excuse for my behavior...**

** In a lighter mood, this is not the last chapter before the big hiatus. I will post one more chapter for sure before I go. Expect it to be up before or on April 15. After that, the only time I will actually have to work on the story will be on the weekends, so I might continue to post chapters throughout the hiatus. However, don't count on it; I do need sleep after all... dang it L, what's your secret?!**

** I will be back for sure before the school year finishes; that much you guys can count on.**

** Now, I really must thank Codename Jellybean for this. I had mistakenly asked her to please beta it by Thursday morning when I really meant Wednesday. It's thanks to her that this chapter got posted today and not tomorrow. Thanks CJ! To the rest of you: look. Her. UP!**

** Thanks to those who reviewed and commented on this fic; it was extremely nice to hear all your thoughts on this story.**

** Wow, this is one of my longest author notes yet, quite fitting for my longest chapter yet. Well, as nice as it was to be able to talk to you guys, I kinda have to go now...**

** Please remember to review! It helps me become a better writer, and it improves the quality of this fic.**

** Bye for now!**

**xXRafa-chanXx**

**P.S. How many of you thought Sunny was Kira when she pulled out her ol' black notebook? Be honest now...**

**P.P.S. It seemed pretty obvious from the beginning, but SunnylovesLYAYAYAYAYAY! L doesn't know though... or does he? (JK no he doesn't).**

**P.P.P.S Geez, I'm quite talkative today, aren't I? But I just wanted to ask you guys... how many of you like the fluff moments more than the actual plot? This might influence the fic, so please be honest. I personally like writing and reading fluff... but the plot's important, so I won't divert from that.**


	6. Flashbacks, Attacks, and Arguments Pt 1

_Last time on __**No Matter What**__..._

_To calm her down further, the interviewer had asked, "Can we know the name of this splendid fellow?"_

_ Sunny's eyes widened in shock as she stared down at the paper. 'I-it can't be...'_

_ There on the paper transcript, typed up in clear cut, pristine black ink was the name "Light Yagami."_

She didn't know why it shocked her. After all, he was a normal teenager, and normal teenagers went on dates all the time. And it certainly made sense as to why he was so reluctant to trust the FBI agent; he was the son of the police chief.

Sunny sighed. Somehow, something about this case was bothering her. There was the FBI agent, yes, and there was absolutely no doubt that he was one of the agents that were sent by L. Why else would an FBI agent be in Japan? Now, unless someone else from the police force had been on the bus that day, the FBI agent had been there to spy on Light Yagami.

It all came down to him then. Light Yagami. No, that was wrong; it all came down to Light Yagami and the FBI. Sunny felt that something was going on with Light Yagami; however, unless she had proof of any sort to back up this feeling, that's all it would ever be: just a feeling.

She grumbled slightly but made up her mind; she would introduce her suspicions about this case and the FBI and Light's involvement to L tonight and wait for his opinion. Surely he would come to the same conclusion she did: if something happened to the FBI now, they would know that Light Yagami played a role in it, no matter how big or small. It would be proof based entirely on assumptions and rough analyzation, but it would be something to start on.

However, right now, she still had to finish this damn report, and after that, she had to work on the Kira case a bit more. She could worry about Light Yagami and the involvement of the FBI later.

Though, as Sunny organized her pile of evidence that was now slightly strewn across her desk, she couldn't help but wonder: who was the FBI agent on that bus?

10 HOURS LATER

Sunny stretched her sore limbs and glanced down at her watch. It was 11 pm. Huh, no wonder she was so tired; she would've usually left the headquarters 2 hours earlier. However, because of the report...

For the umpteenth time that day, she cursed the laziness of her fellow officers, or at least, the goons who had dumped _her _with the all the extra work. Huffing, she started packing up all her materials. It took a good 5 minutes to organize herself because all of her papers were scattered across the small desk she used to work on.

_Ziiiiiiip. _The sound the zipper made was sort of satisfying, for it made her think of the work she had done today being cleaned up and put aside for tomorrow. Yawning, she checked her watch again and started out of the building.

When she arrived in the lobby, she looked around for a man in a black trench coat; however, the lobby was totally empty, and all she heard was the low hum of electricity.

_'Watari must've gone home without me, meaning Ryuu told him that I'd be staying back later than usual.'_ Looks like she'd have to walk home. She shrugged. Ah well, there's really nothing that could be done about that.

She headed outside and was instantly hit with a blast of frigid air. A soft smile slowly spread across her face. She never really got why most people hated the cold because to her, the cold was spicy and refreshing, like the small peppermint candies she loved. The cold also held some of the best memories for her.

Her smile turned slightly goofy. It had been a cold, snowy day like this when she had met Ryuu for the first time...

FLASHBACK- 12 YEARS AGO

_Faces and buildings flashed by the little girl's window, and she looked out with brief, mild interest before turning back to her own extremely morbid thoughts. _

_ She was a little slip of a girl who had barely turned 11; however, even in her young age, she had seen horrors that no child should've seen..._

_ After that day when her parents died in a fire (almost a year ago, although it seemed more like centuries ago), she had spent the better portion of a week recuperating in a hospital. Although there were not external burns on her, she had a mild case of asthma which had been greatly irritated by the flames and so had to stay a tad bit longer in the hospital than if she hadn't had asthma. _

_When her time at the hospital was over, a cheerful young lady with mouse brown hair and chocolate eyes had gently taken her hand and led her into a car. She was a nice lady; all the way to the orphanage, she had tried to cheer the little girl up by taking out a pair of bells and ringing them constantly. The girl recalled now that they were pretty bells, even if they failed to cheer her up._

_The orphanage she had been in for the past year wasn't a bad orphanage, but it wasn't a good one either. It was exceedingly normal, but that's not why she was bored every day. She was bored because the orphanage had kept on giving her such boring courses to learn. She had already learned most of them, and all she had to do for the other courses was to read the textbooks. It was easy and __**oh so mind-numbingly BORING!**_

_Test after test had been given to her, and she had passed each of them with flying colors.__That was why she was here today; she was heading to a 'special' orphanage. All the adults at her old orphanage had tried to get her pumped up for this orphanage- they said things like, "It's for people like __**you.**__" or "Now you'll really fit in!"- but none of their strategies worked. The past year had left her drained, apathetic, bored, and sad, a combination of lethargic emotions that stirred so strongly within her that it felt like the too-thick soups at the orphanage. If anyone had ever asked her what she wanted, she would've replied with, "I want to just sleep and never wake up."_

_Although, sleep itself did very little to help her. Most nights, she stayed awake, and when she fell asleep on the other few nights, she always woke up either screaming or gasping for air. Huh. Interesting._

"_We're here, little miss," the driver called from up front. The girl jerked violently out of her thoughts and saw that they had indeed arrived at the orphanage. She stepped out on cramped legs and walked over to the driver, who was carrying her bag out to the sidewalk. When she reached the sidewalk, she fumbled through her purse and tried to pull out the correct amount of fare for a ride this long._

"_Little miss?"_

_The girl looked up and saw a twinkle of kindness and pity in the man's eyes. She waited for him to go on._

"_Little miss, it's okay. Yer fare has already been paid fer." Saying that, he went back to his cab. Before he climbed in, he turned around and tipped his cap._

"_Have a jolly good day, little miss. Happy Holidays!" He drove off, leaving the girl on the sidewalk with wide, disbelieving eyes. She was still standing there like that when she heard the gates creaking open._

_When she turned to her right, she saw an old man walking towards her. As he reached her, he offered his right hand and said, "Good afternoon, my dear. My name is Quillish Wammy, and I am the director and founder of this orphanage."_

_The girl stared at his hand before tentatively extending her own hand to meet his. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Wammy," her voice came out as a whisper, "My name is-"_

"_Ah, my dear, there's no need to tell me your real name. I already know it. I trust you've read the rule book for this orphanage before you arrived?" She nodded. "Well then, you should know about our custom of giving nicknames to the children who enter, plus a letter to go along with it."_

_The girl nodded again and bit her lower lip before timidly asking, "Why?"_

_It wasn't the most detailed question that had ever been asked; however, Quillish Wammy instinctively knew what the child was asking about. He gave a mysterious smile and said, "For security reasons, my dear. A genius will always have enemies who might try to use, harm, or pass off as him or her. Therefore, the custom of nicknames." He stooped down to pick up her bag. "You will get your own nickname later. For now, please come with me, and we shall get you settled in."_

_As they passed under the gate, the girl looked up at the snow-covered sign above the gates. __**'Wammy's House... rather strange name for an orphanage. And yet somehow... it's much more like home...'**_

_When she came back from her reverie, she noticed that Mr. Wammy was already far down along the road. She let out a small cry of surprise before running to catch up._

_As she caught up to him, Mr. Wammy turned to her with a warm, close-eyed smile. "I realize that there is a lot to see, but please do try to keep up. If you'd like, you can have a tour later."_

_The girl was about to apologize when she realized she was not being chastised, so instead she dipped her head and murmured, "Yes, that would be lovely, thank you."_

_They continued down the road, which was bordered by what she took to be apple trees, judging by their size. She couldn't really tell however seeing as it was winter and all the trees were bare. It was still beautiful though. The girl occasionally lifted her head to look at her surroundings but put most of her attention on keeping up with Mr. Wammy. For such an old person, he was quite sprightly._

_They passed through the front courtyard. The first thing she noticed about it was that it was covered in snow just like everything else. The second thing she noticed was the laughter. As she turned to look more carefully at the courtyard, she saw children having a snowball fight. She stopped for a second to observe them. _

_Each side hurled playful jeers and insults, as well as snowballs, at each other. There were forts, yes, but the forts did very little to defend their adventurous and competitive owners, who went out of their way to throw snowballs at the other team, only to get hit in the face, chest, arm, or any other bodily part with a cold ball of snow. All in all, they looked like they were having a lot of fun playing with their friends._

_Friends..._

_As she stared at the happy children in front of her, she crouched into herself. There was no way she'd ever be able to be as happy-go-lucky as the kids in front of her, meaning there was no way they'd ever be friends with her. After all, who would want to be around someone who rarely smiles and even more rarely laughs?_

_A hand came down on her shoulder, gently rousing her out of her bout of loneliness. She looked up and into the warm gray eyes of Mr. Wammy."Shall we go inside, my dear?" She nodded mutely, and he led her into the building._

_If the building looked huge from the outside, then it was even bigger on the inside. As the doors opened, she could see the elegant, wooden staircase and the mint green carpet that complimented it beautifully. As they walked in, she craned her neck upwards to see the flying buttresses, and her eyes widened in amazement. After a while, her neck started to ache, so she slowly tilted her head down and looked around at the furniture in front of the stairs._

_They were elegant and old. The designs on the furniture were faded, and though they all seemed to be in one piece, with a closer look, the girl saw that all of them had at least one tear or rip. They were worn down, true, but they were worn down in the way sneakers were broken in; they were comfortable, and they added to the homelike atmosphere she'd been getting from the orphanage ever since the driver refused her fare. Still, she wasn't about to relax just yet..._

_Mr. Wammy led her up the stairs and paused in front of a pair of standard wooden doors. He turned to her and asked, "I hear you like to read. If that's so, then you're going to love this room." He gestured to the doors behind him and continued, "Through these doors, you'll find our library. Kindly wait here while I go to your room to drop off your belongings, and then we'll head over to my office to sort out some final matters. Feel free to look through the books. I only ask that you not take any books out of the library, not for this first week at least."_

_She nodded in understanding. While she might have a reputation for good behavior, Mr. Wammy and the others would not be so inclined to trust her so easily. It was to be expected in any orphanage, let alone an orphanage that gave children nicknames and letters to hide behind._

"_Well then my dear," he held open the door as she walked through, "I shall come back for you as soon as possible." And with that, he closed the door he had been holding open silently. The girl waited until she could no longer hear his footsteps before she decided to move._

_The library was huge; not as huge as the front room, but it held its own against that room fairly. However, its size was not the thing that impressed the girl, nor was it the giant windows in the back; it was the books. _

_Books everywhere. Rows and rows of books went down the full length of the room, and the shelves were so high they almost touched the ceiling! Really, she didn't know where to start!_

_She walked down the aisles of books, running her hands over rough leather, crinkly plastic, and smooth paper. Though she saw many familiar titles, more often than not, she saw a lot of books that she didn't know about. Occasionally, she even saw books of other languages too!_

_She kept on walking down the aisles, and she was about to give up and turn back when she saw him._

_It was another orphan like her and the rest outside (she assumed that because he was in the library); however, he was rather... odd, so to speak._

_For one thing, he sat weirdly. Since there were no tables at the end of this particular aisle, he sat on the floor by the window. Any other person would've sprawled out on the floor or perhaps hunched so that they could read comfortably. He did neither. While he did hunch up, instead of sitting on his bottom like everyone else, he sat on the balls of his feet, so he looked like he was crouching._

_ For another thing, he had a different way of holding his book. Most people held books in either one hand or two hands; he held the book between his thumbs and forefingers and didn't even put it down when he had to turn the page! He deftly turned it while still in that position, and the girl could see that this way of reading books was a habit for him, not something he'd just decided to try._

_ Lastly, there was his appearance; although, when she thought about it, his appearance wasn't really that odd. He had shaggy black hair that contrasted greatly with the falling snow outside the window. Some of it fell into his eyes, which were just as black as his hair and glazed with sleep. She could see that he had bags under his eyes; they were so thick that for a second she had almost thought they had been done with black eye shadow. However, his eyes were alert as they'd darted across the pages, and now, she got a good look into those blank eyes as he looked up to see the person who was currently towering over him._

_ She immediately dropped to the ground to make herself seem friendlier; she knew what it was like to have people look down on you. This didn't seem to affect the boy in any way, shape, or form; he just kept looking at her with his blank eyes, which, if she looked closer now, she could see that there was a confused glimmer in it._

_ She shifted awkwardly and stuck out a hand toward the boy, who by this time had put his book down beside to focus his whole attention on her. When he didn't shake her hand, she put it down gently, cleared her throat, and whispered, "Hi, my name is-" She stopped suddenly and shook her head. "No, that's wrong, isn't it? I'm not supposed to give you my name."_

_ The boy sat silently for a while before whispering back, "Do you not have a nickname yet?"_

_ She shook her head again. "No, I'm new and just got here."_

_ "Ah. I see." They sat in silence before the boy asked her, "Why don't you choose your name?"_

_ The girl's eyebrows furrowed. "I thought the orphanage chooses your nickname and letter."_

_ "They do, but it's only if you can't come up with a nickname yourself. And the letter can either be the first letter of your real name or the first letter of your nickname."_

_ "Hmm, in that case," the girl thought for a while, chewing on her bottom lip before continuing, "Let's try this again, shall we?" She stuck out her hand again, this time with confidence. "Hi, my name is Sunny!" She smiled warmly and tilted her head to the side, "What's yours?"_

_ The boy looked at the proffered hand before tentatively shaking it. "L. My name is L."_

BACK TO THE PRESENT

Sunny was still smiling that obnoxiously goofy grin when she was attacked.

Well, surrounded would be more like it.

She had been so caught up in her memories that she had taken a wrong turn; as a result, she was now in a part of town that she didn't recognize. And as if that wasn't enough, she was now surrounded by a gang of teenage boys.

As they moved in on her, one of them said, "Oi, oi, look what we got here!"

Another one, this time in the opposite direction, cackled. "She's not pretty, but she'll do."

Sunny's eyebrows shot up in alarm. "You guys are like, what, 16, 17? Shouldn't you be at home studying for whatever exams you might have?"

"Hah! And what makes ya think we're the kind of guys who study? Your vision's bit off, old lady."

Sunny's brows furrowed in fake confusion. "If I'm an old lady, why do you guys want to bang me?"

They all stopped in their tracks, and Sunny could almost see their thoughts going, '_Huh?'_ However, she took advantage of the situation by stuffing her hand into her bag, and after a minute of quickly digging around, she pulled out the object of her search in triumph.

"Aha, found it!" It was a can of pepper spray. She put one finger on the trigger and widened her stance. A maniacal grin found its way onto her face. "Say hello to my little friend~," she sang. She pressed the trigger and...

...Nothing. "Eh?" She pressed the trigger again. Still nothing. She shook the can frantically and then pressed the trigger. Nada.

"Well, shit."

The teenager in front of her barked out a short laugh. "Oi, old lady, is that all your 'little friend' can do?" he taunted.

Before Sunny could think of a potentially snarky/dangerous reply, another boy piped up with, "Man, I'm booored! Hey Boss, hurry it up a little!"

In the darkness, she saw a boy grin as he started to step ever closer towards her. Sunny's eyes narrowed in concentration. _'So this must be the bo-'_

_ THUD! _Her back hit the alley wall; her eyes widened. The grinner closed in, teeth flashing like a shark's. Closer, closer, closer. And there was nothing Sunny could do about it. She was officially trapped, and it didn't look like anyone would be walking around this area at night.

**AN: (sarcastic voice) Let's give it up for the new version of the final exams, shall we? Woot, woot. Though to be fair, they were easier than I thought they'd be...**

**Agh! I'm sorry this came so late everyone. I blame it on exams because EXAMS! It doesn't matter how easy they are; if they make you so tired that they disrupt your sleeping schedule (wake up at 1, screw around for a few hours before going back to sleep only to wake up at 7), then they suck!**

**This chapter is a bit longer than usual, if you notice, even though it's not as long as the last one. The reason the update was so late was because I was originally just going to do one huge chapter. However, I decided to cut it in half because it got too long. So after this, Imma get crackin' on the next chapter, which is mostly done except for the last few parts.**

**Also, this chapter is un-beta'ed, so please inform me if I made any mistakes. CJ is just as wrapped up in exams as I am, making it hard for eir to beta this fic. However, I asked her if she could beta the next chapter, and she said yes. Best get down to that crackin' I was talking about!**

**Also, I have been recently obsessed with Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji. Specifically obsessed with THE Black Butler himself: Sebastian Michaelis (love his name!). I'm thinking of making a SebbyxOC once summer rolls around. It'd be updated alongside "No Matter What", and I'd update both regularly. Here's a short summary: Korax (our Sebby right here!) knew he'd have to find a mate; all of Lucifer's sons did once they reached their 1,000th birthday. Faline (our OC) is the demon he chose. She is the cat demon, and she does not hold that much trust in him. She's heard he's a player, someone who likes to play with demon and human hearts alike, and nothing can convince her otherwise. In Korax's moment of need, a certain young earl calls for him, and once the contract is made, he takes Faline and goes to the world above, where they strike a deal: if he can prove to her that he's not a player in the time it took to finish the contract, then they would go back and be mates forever. If not, however...**

**This is basically something I want to try, so please look out for "Trust", coming this summer!**

**Dang, this is a loooooong author's note... ah well (shrugs). SCREW IT!**

**Hiatus is still on, but I'm still alive and updating, so don't worry. **

**Thank you to WildfireDreams for supporting this fanfic from the absolute start; I always look for your comment whenever I update. Thanks to honeydew-bubble-tea for making me feel better about Sunny. You're right when you said that Sunny and L have had a lot of off-screen development, and Sunny isn't looking to start a relationship with L in that way, not right now at least. Her thoughts go like this: it'd be nice if it happens, but I'd rather not make the first move because I don't want to mess up our friendship, which is important to me. And last but not least, I've teamed up with CakeOfMischief13, and we're the duo that'll take over the world with FLUFF! FLUFF FOR EVERYONE! (we haven't really decided on a name yet though... pooey).**

**As always, please review and comment. It's nice to know what you guys like and don't like about this story; remember, reviewing makes me become a better author, therefore making this fic better.**

**See ya around next chapter!**

**Rafa-chan!**


	7. Flashbacks, Attacks, and Arguments Pt 2

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT CONDONE ANY FORM OF SEXUAL ABUSE AND HARASSMENT. ALSO, SUNNY'S MOUTH/MIND IS A BIT FOUL IN THIS ONE, SO VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED. **

_**Last Time on No Matter What**_

_In the darkness, she saw a boy grin as he started to step ever closer towards her. Sunny's eyes narrowed in concentration. '__**So this must be the bo-'**_

_ THUD! Her back hit the alley wall; her eyes widened._ _The grinner closed in, teeth flashing like a shark's. Closer, closer, closer. And there was nothing Sunny could do about it. She was officially trapped, and it didn't look like anyone would be walking around this area at night._

The leader let out a dark chuckle, and in one fluid motion, he reached forward, grabbed her by her hair, and tugged her face close to his. She hissed at the sharp hold, but tried to focus on getting out of his grasp.

She tried to recall her training from Wammy's. It was extremely hard, and for once in her life she wished she had paid more attention in class instead of reading.

Her eyes narrowed as she considered the most probable escape plan.'_If I kick lower, I could get out while he's hunched over in pain...'_ She aimed a kick to his nether regions, and before she knew it his hand was gripping the middle of her thigh like a vice. He held it in place before slowly moving upwards, a lewd smile on his face. Her face burned in shame and embarrassment, and she struggled to get out of the boy's grip.

Seeing this, he tugged harder at her hair and was about to force a kiss on her when...

"HEY! What are you kids doing down here?!" Sunny's eyes widened in recognition. _'Chief?'_

"Aw come on, officer, we were just havin' a bit of fuuuun!" It was boy from earlier, the one who had told the boss to "hurry it up a little".

"Tsk." The Chief looked around at the scene, and he cried out in surprise when his eyes fell on Sunny. "Dr. Kobayashi?! What are you doing here?"

The leader panicked and tried to get out of the hole he had dug himself in by saying, "Sh-she was just looking for a bit of fun too-"

"I most absolutely was NOT!" Sunny snapped indignantly. Frightened by her sudden outburst, the leader let her go, and she winced as the hold on her hair was released. She huffed as she straightened out her dress pants, then she looked up at the chief calmly and said, "I was walking home when I made a wrong turn and landed in this area. That's when these guys," she jerked her head in their direction, "surrounded and attacked me."

The Chief's eyes narrowed, and he asked the other boys one, simple question, "Is this true?"

For a minute, no one answered, and suddenly, the leader said, "Run!" The whole gang took off down the alley, their feet slapping the broken asphalt.

"Oi, get back here!" The Chief was about to go after them when he noticed Sunny rubbing her arms up and down. He saw the hollow, haunted look in her eyes, and his own eyes softened in sympathy. _'So strong when people are looking, and yet, she breaks down when she feels everyone looking the other way...'_

"Dr. Kobayashi?"

This snapped her out of her trance. "Yes?"

The Chief hesitated on his next few words. "Did they... do anything to you?"

He couldn't be certain, but he was fairly sure that she was blushing. "No, they didn't do anything," she replied evenly.

"...I see." They fell into an awkward silence before Sunny piped up and said,

"Thank you for your help, Chief, but I really must be getting home..."

"Not in this condition you aren't. My house will come up in a block or so, I often use this area as a shortcut, and my wife will probably still be up at this hour. If you come with me, we can get you warm and comfortable, and then we can call someone you know and ask them to pick you up."

Sunny shook her head frantically, "Y-you don't have to do all this. I'm totally fine with walking home by myself..."

"Dr. Kobayashi," the Chief said sternly, "you have faced tremendous trauma tonight. Come to our house and relax a little before you go home. If you have people waiting for you, I'm sure they'll understand the situation. Now, please follow me."

With that, the Chief took off down the alley road, leaving Sunny with a decision. Should she follow him, or should she just use this opportunity to walk away and somehow find her way back to a road she actually recognized. _'The chances of me being able to strike it off on my own are pretty slim...'_

She sighed in defeat and followed after the Chief. _'Ryuu... I hope you're not mad at me...'_

10 MINUTES LATER

The two officers walked up the pavement to the door of the friendly-looking little house. Sunny hid slightly behind the Chief as he knocked on the door; they both took a step back to allow the door space to open.

They heard a muffled "Coming!" from inside, and not long after, the door opened wide to reveal a matronly woman with a short brown bob, soft brown eyes like a cow's, and a small expectant smile. _'She must've been waiting up for him,'_ Sunny deduced. Instantly, she felt guilty for ruining the little, daily peace the Chief and his wife had to themselves.

"Sachiko," the Chief began, "this is Dr. Kobayashi, our main criminal psychiatrist on the Kira case who doubles as a normal police officer from time to time," he stepped behind Sunny and pushed her forward, slightly, "She was walking home tonight when she took a wrong turn and landed in an unknown alley. She was attacked by a group of teenage boys; luckily, I came by before they could do any damage. She's in shock though; can you he-?"

She gave a little cry of shock at his words, and in an instant had wrapped her arms around Sunny and dragged her into the house, saying, "Come inside dear, and get yourself warmed up! If you come with me, I'll show you the dining table," she turned to the Chief and said, "Soichiro, please get cleaned up and then join us at the table." She then turned and tugged Sunny deeper into the house with a little, "Come along!"

Sunny was stunned by her hospitality, so she allowed Mrs. Yagami to drag her to the dining table, which was a well-lit area adjacent to the kitchen. She sat down in one of the chairs and kept her back straight; though she was an expert on human natures and tendencies, she had never been invited to another person's house before, due to her work, and she was confused on how she should act. Mrs. Yagami saw this and said, "Oh go ahead, relax! You don't have to be so formal right now, Dr. Kobayashi."

Sunny cleared her throat and replied, "Please call me Sanae, Yagami-san. Dr. Kobayashi is a bit of a mouthful."

Mrs. Yagami's eyes sparked with pleasantness. "Alright, but only if you call me Sachiko."

Sunny nodded. "Arigatou, Sachiko-san," she called after Sachiko as she went into the kitchen.

Sachiko turned back with a warm, close-eyed smile, not unlike the one Sunny often gave L. "It's no problem at all! Just try to relax, Sanae-chan, and I'll brew you some green tea with honey."

Sunny eased back into her chair as Sachiko had asked, but she could not help stiffening to attention once the Chief came into the room. His suit and tie were gone, leaving him in his white, collared shirt, in which the sleeves were pulled up to the elbow, and in his black suit pants.

The Chief noticed that Sunny had straightened once he had walked into the room, and he motioned for her to relax again. "You don't have to spring to attention here, Dr. Kobayashi. It's fine; now, please make yourself comfortable."

Sunny nodded slightly and relaxed again into the chair. As the Chief took his seat, Sachiko brought over his dinner with a, "Here you go, darling." Then, she turned to Sunny and said, "Please wait a little bit longer while the tea brews. I'm sorry it's taking so long."

Sunny waved her hands in front of her and shook her head at the same time. "N-no, it's quite alri-"

"Eh? Okaa-san, who is this?" Sunny's eyes trailed over to the doorway where stood a sleepy, young, middle-school girl in a Hideki Ryuuga t-shirt and pink pants.

"Ah, Sayu, you know you have school tomorrow!" Sachiko scolded.

"But Okaa-san, I woke up, and I was thirsty!" Sayu whined sleepily.

Sachiko sighed. "Alright," she said in an indulgent tone, "come here and have some water."

Sayu wandered over to the kitchen slowly, almost as if in a daze. She took the water glass from her mother's outstretched hand, drank it in a few gulps, and then handed it back to her mother. She dazedly dawdled back to the door, and upon reaching it, turned around and said, "G'night Okaa-san, Otou-san, and-" she stopped abruptly, and tilted her head at Sunny. Sunny got the cue, and said, "My name is Kobayashi Sanae, but you can just call me Sanae."

Sayu let out a sleepy smile and said, "Goodnight then, Sanae-nee-san."

Sunny's eyes widened in surprise, but then they slowly softened as she said, "Yes, goodnight, Sayu-chan."

After hearing that, the little girl walked out of the room slowly, and the whole room heard her go up the stairs one by one until her footsteps faded away.

Sunny turned back to Sachiko and the Chief and asked, "Is she your daughter?"

The Chief smiled softly and said, "Yes, she's in middle school."

Sunny nodded. "I guessed as much."

Sachiko raised her eyebrows. "How?"

Sunny pointed to her own clothes and said simply, "Hideki Ryuuga. As far as I know, all teenage girls are infatuated with him, and Sayu-chan's a bit too short to be a high schooler."

Sachiko smiled warmly. "You have a keen eye, Sanae-chan."

Sunny blushed and stuttered, "N-no, i-it's nothing really. I kind of need the skill for my line of work so..."

Sachiko turned to the stove and turned it off, all the while asking, "I heard from Soichiro that you're a criminal psychiatrist, but what do you exactly do?"

Sunny was oh so tempted to say, _"Well, you see, I spy on the Japanese police force in order to gauge their reactions to the ever-elusive L, who is my childhood friend."_ However, she didn't feel that would go down too well, so instead she said, "As my name suggests, I look over the psyche of criminals in order to predict their next move. Sometimes, I'm hired to look over their mental health so that they can get the right sentence if they actually are mentally unstable."

At this time, Sachiko came over to the table and handed Sunny her tea, which she accepted with a, "Thank you." Sachiko nodded and sat down at the table as Sunny took a sip.

"Mm, this is delicious, Sachiko-san!"

Sachiko smiled, pleased. "I'm glad you like it, Sanae-chan." She leaned forward a bit, and asked, "So, what's your favorite part of your job?"

Sunny smiled back and said, "Well..."

BACK AT THE CONDO

Watari came in with a bowl of sugar for L. As he placed it on the ground near him, L's face turned quizzical.

"Is something wrong, L?"

"No, nothing's wrong Watari, thank you, but, where's Sunny?"

Watari sighed. "She hasn't called yet."

If L had eyebrows, they would've knit together in worry at this statement. "Do you think she's alright?"

Watari sighed again. "I don't know. Tell you what, I'll give her a call, and you can talk to her to find out if she's okay or not."

L nodded. Watari dialed the number and handed it to L, who accepted it silently.

_RIIIIING... RIIIIING..._

AT THE YAGAMI RESIDENCE

While the Chief had eaten his meal in silence, Sachiko and Sunny had really been hitting it off. They had held a pleasant conversation as Sunny drank her tea, which was now at its end. Sunny gulped the dregs of the tea down, finishing it off.

Sunny pushed her chair back slightly and stood up. "Thank you for the tea and the hospitality, but I really must be going-"

_RIIIIING... RIIIIING..._

Sunny pulled out her phone with a confused frown on her face, which soon turned into surprise as she saw the caller ID.

_'Ryuu... Shit, I'm screwed...'_

She turned to Sachiko and the Chief, and said, "It's my father, he must be worried. Excuse me."

"Of course."

Sunny turned away slightly and answered the call.

"Sunny, where are you?" L asked. Sunny's eyes widened. _'I can actually hear the worry in his voice without even trying to look for it... shitshitshit!'_

On the outside, she schooled her face to be a mask of reassurance. "Otou-san, I'm fine! Nothing bad happened, I promise you! I'm just running a bit late, that's all..." _'Haha! Yes! Good one Sunny! Mental high five!'_

"Dr. Kobayashi, may I speak to your father please?" the Chief asked, though it seemed much more like a command.

Sunny's face drained of all blood. _'Crap... welp, I'm shcrewed.'_

To the Chief she smiled and said, "Yes, of course! Wait just a moment..." She switched to L. "Otou-san, the Chief wants to talk to you." _'There, Ryuu should know enough to go from there.'_

She handed the phone to the Chief, nervously wringing her hands as she waited for the conversation to begin.

"Hello? Are you the father of Dr. Kobayashi?" A pause. "Okay. Please sit down so that you don't fall down from the shock of what I'm about to tell you..."

AT THE CONDO, 15 MINUTES LATER

L sat on the cold, hard floor, chewing his thumb as he mulled over the situation at hand. Watari had just gone to the Yagami residence posing as a concerned family friend to pick up Sunny. L sighed softly as he considered the events that led up to this...

He was obviously worried when he had called Sunny, but he had thought that she was running late as usual. Then, his worry had grown as Sunny had told him that the Chief wanted to speak with her "father". Of course, he had picked up on the hint and had quickly adopted a concerned elderly accent.

Most of the conversation with the Chief was a blur; all he could remember was the rapid beating of his heart, the shock coursing through his veins, and the anger. Yes, he had been angry, and he still was, in fact. He was angry at the coworkers who had given Sunny extra work, angry at the guys who had attacked Sunny, angry at Sunny's stupidity. But most of all, he was angry at himself for the way he had let Sunny get in danger.

Of course he had sent Sunny to spy on the police force on every case he was working on, but this case had been different from the start. While he and Sunny had gone into other cases with gusto and interest, he had gone into this case with more than the slightest feeling of trepidation. If Sunny'd had the same feeling, then he honestly never knew; she was always so good at hiding her emotions behind a smile.

L's mind drifted off to the day he had voiced his doubts about the case to Sunny...

FLASHBACK

_Fingers flew across black keyboards. The sound of keys click-clacking together was the only noise that filled the room, at least for the time being. They were both on their respective laptops; he was working on analyzing the evidence that he and Sunny had so carefully scrounged up together, and she was doing some last minute research on the Japanese police force. She and "Watari" would be infiltrating them tomorrow in order to gauge their reactions to him and also to gather additional evidence that only the police would be able to get._

_ L looked up at Sunny now. Her eyes were glued to the screen, flickering at almost an inhuman pace as she looked over the information. She was excited about this case, he could tell. It had been over a year since their last big case, and, like L, Sunny had gotten bored. Sure, she had her patients she worked with when she and L were off cases, but even they had become boring to her. That was not to say that she didn't take each and every one of them seriously; unlike him, she valued all human lives, and viewed none of them as sacrifices, not even the ones who were behind bars for serious crimes like arson and murder. She had told him earlier that that was why she became a doctor. It was only after he had asked for assistance that she had joined him and his work._

_ He continued to stare at her absentmindedly, his mind wandering off to the case and her role in it. The case..._

_ He felt a surge of protectiveness well up inside of him, and it was so sudden he felt shocked. He discreetly clenched and unclenched his fingers out of Sunny's sight and tried to keep his breathing normal. Sunny was like a bloodhound when it came to him; once she caught a whiff that he was distressed in any way, shape, or form, she'd sink her teeth into him and pester him until he told her what was wrong. It was an annoying habit she had picked up once she had become his friend, but it had grown on him over the years, and now, he honestly thought it was quite cu-_

_ Whup, no. He shook his head slightly, raven bangs falling slightly into his eyes. Nope, he was NOT going there, down that road, EVER. It was just too dangerous, both for him and Sunny, perhaps even for Wammy. He knows what he chose when he got into this line of work, and he wasn't going to risk it all on such silliness..._

_ "Ryuu?" _

_ L snapped out of his thoughts. Oh shit, he was going to get it now. His face kept its ever-present neutrality; however, his gaze snapped promptly back to his laptop screen, the lines blurring and converging in his eyes. Sunny had an uncanny ability of reading his emotions just by looking at his eyes._

_ She tilted her head, almost birdlike. "Is something wrong?" she urged in a concerned tone._

_ "Nothing's wrong," he replied back, pretending absentminded as he started to bite the top of his thumb. He still didn't trust himself enough to look directly at Sunny, so he kept his eyes locked on the computer, seeming almost fascinated by the evidence in front of him, and hoped she would just go away._

_ Not a chance. "Y'know, you really can't fool me with that get up, Ryuu. Especially when I haven't seen you scroll down, click, or type anything in the past 3 minutes," she said amusedly._

_ She impressed him yet again, the way she could always read him. Perhaps this was what came of being friends for almost 12 years. "Perhaps I've just been stuck on one piece of evidence," he answered._

_ Sunny smirked. "I highly doubt it." The smirk washed away, and instead there were soft eyes and a face luminous with concern. "Seriously though, what's wrong?"_

_ He internally panicked, trying to come up with a plausible lie. His teeth pierced his thumb harder as he tried to think of the best lie he could tell her when he realized he couldn't exactly tell her a lie; Sunny would know in an instant. He could, however, tell another truth, about something that was actually bothering him. His thumb left his lips, and he let out a sigh._

_ "I'm... having doubts about this case, Sunny."_

_ He looked up into her eyes and saw that her posture had totally changed. She had set away her laptop to her right and had pulled up her legs in order to mimic his sitting posture. Her eyes were focused on him with an intensity he didn't expect, and that threw him off enough for him to lose his train of thought._

_ "Um, Ryuu? You okay?"_

_ By all rights, he should've blushed, being caught staring like that and all. However, L did NOT blush, so he simply reinforced his stoic expression before answering._

_ "Yes, I'm fine."_

_ Sunny didn't look entirely convinced, but she decided to drop it in favor of the larger, more important topic. "So, why do you have doubts about the case, Ryuu?"_

_**'Here it is...' **__"The case... something seems off about it, somehow. As if the other party, Kira, has something up his sleeve that no one can anticipate. To be frank with you, Sunny," he took a deep breath, "I think that this might be my last case."_

_ Sunny furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, shock rising on her face as it finally clicked. "R-Ryuu!" she sputtered, "you can't be serious!"_

_ He intensified his gaze. "Do I look like I'm joking?"_

_ "No, but-"_

_ "Then I'm not. Sunny, I think" he sighed softly, "I'm going to die."_

_ Sunny looked as if she was about to burst with emotion, but it all fizzled out as she saw her friend's dejected, almost defeated posture. On an impulse, she strode over to him, sat down on the couch, and hugged him. Hard._

_ L started. "What? Sunny?"_

_ She merely hugged him tighter, and said gently, "No you're not, Ryuu, don't say that. I'll protect you, no matter what."_

BACK TO THE PRESENT

L found himself back in his current predicament, waiting for Sunny to arrive with Watari. He looked around at the cold walls before his gaze dropped to his bare feet.

_'Sunny... you said that you would protect me, no matter what, but today... I failed to protect you.'_

**AN: Urgh... I was so happy about this chapter in the beginning, but now I'm not so sure...**

**The reason I was happy about it was because it just flowed beautifully as I was writing it. Then my lovely beta CJ told me that there were a lot of things she felt was off about it, like how Sunny sort of turned into a damsel in distress and that scene in the beginning... GAH!**

**I'm going to let you guys be the final critics on this one. If a lot of you say that this needs changing, I'll take it down and change it (though it might take longer...), no questions asked.**

**I think I'll share my thought process of this chapter with you guys. Sunny's the type of girl who never really paid attention to physical activities, and she always snuck a book into her PE classes when she could. Therefore, her knowledge of self-defense is rudimentary at best and nonexistent at worst, and this later comes back to bite her in the butt (now).**

**Also, I'm sorry if L acted OOC in this chapter, but I just feel like this is how he would react if he had a childhood best friend who got into this kind of danger. Add to the fact that this has never happened before and...**

**If you guys have any more questions on this chapter and others, please either review or send me a PM. I'll respond as soon as possible.**

**Speaking of which, I do not know the next time I'll be able to update. Don't count on it being soon. However, I'll be in full swing come June, with a new chapter of this and (hopefully) the first chapter of a new story called "Trust Me, My Love". Read the summary in the last chapter's AN.**

**So... we've had the flashback, we've had the attack... time for the argument? Tune in next time, and don't forget to review.**

**Bye for now!**

**RaFa-chan.**


	8. Flashbacks, Attacks, and Arguments Pt 3

_**Last time on No Matter What**_

_L found himself back in his current predicament, waiting for Sunny to arrive with Watari. He looked around at the cold walls before his gaze dropped to his bare feet._

_**'Sunny... you said that you would protect me, no matter what, but today... I failed to protect you.'**_

Sunny was screwed. She knew she was screwed the moment the Chief asked to talk to her "dad". Though now that she thought about it, she might've been screwed from the moment she started to talk about her job; Heaven knows she could go on forever on _that _topic.

She also knew that L was mad at her, seeing as he didn't even tell her that Watari was coming to pick her up as a "family friend". She had to hear that from Watari himself when he walked in the door. And then when she had asked where her "dad" was (meaning: why didn't Watari pose as her father?), Watari had given her a you-should-know-this look before saying, "Sanae-chan, remember your dad's heart condition?"

_'Well, no, how can I remember something I didn't even know about in the first place?!' _Of course, she hadn't said that; instead, she had faked shock and had asked if her "father" was ok, to which Watari had replied with yes, and had said that he didn't come because he felt weak. Yup, L was definitely mad at her.

After that whole near-fiasco, Sunny and Watari left with a "Be careful Dr. Kobayashi," and a "Stay safe, Sanae-chan!" Watari had driven the "normal" car to pick up Sunny, and honestly, she was relieved. The limo always made her feel slightly uncomfortable, and though she didn't mind using the amenities it possessed, she had always felt that it stuck out like a sore thumb, and she didn't much like the feeling of standing out. She preferred to stay in a corner and observe.

Sunny opened the door closest to the curb, sat down, and buckled up as Watari did the same right in front of her. As the car slowly pulled away from Yagami residence, Sunny took off her shoes and pulled her legs up with a tired sigh.

Watari looked at Sunny through the rear-view mirror. "Is everything alright?"

Sunny looked out the window and answered with a question of her own. "How is he?"

There was a moment of silence before Watari sighed, and answered, "That... was the angriest I've ever seen him be."

They didn't speak, and the words sank into the tired atmosphere. As Sunny gazed out the window, she felt herself drifting off. Her last thought before her head hit the cold windowpane was,

_'Angriest he's ever seen him be, huh.'_

5 MINUTES LATER

Sunny was jolted from her short slumber when the car stopped moving. She quickly fought off the drowsiness that came from waking up only to find a bone-deep weariness pressing down on her. She sighed as she opened the car door and stretched out the kinks in her joints. She was definitely not ready to deal with an angry L right now.

She walked into the building and held the door open for Watari, who came in nary a second later. He nodded gratefully, and the two continued inside to where the elevator was.

It was a long, silent ride up to the top floor. As each floor passed, Sunny felt her dread and exhaustion mounting. By the time they reached the top floor, Sunny was all for turning around and going back to the Yagamis'. Maybe they'd let her stay for the night.

Watari, sensing that Sunny was having second thoughts, placed a firm hand on Sunny's shoulder, though he maintained a gentle grip. This brought Sunny back from her thoughts of escape. She looked up at Watari's determined face, then down at the unwavering hand at her shoulder, and sighed in defeat. She was going to have to go through with this after all.

Watari took his hand off of Sunny's shoulder, and the two stepped out of the elevator and towards the door of the condo.

Watari hung back as Sunny opened the door, and Sunny understood he was going to let her and L figure out their own baggage before coming in with his views. To be honest, she would've felt better had the fatherly figure stayed in the room while she and L "talked", but she really couldn't be picky, especially as it was her lack of vigilance that landed her into the situation at hand.

She threw a last, desperate look at Watari for help, and when she realized she'd get none, she turned back around. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and walked in.

The condo was dark, no surprise there. She closed the door as softly as possible, though in the permeating silence, it sounded more like a thunderclap. She winced at the noise and blinked at the heavy darkness, eyes trying to shape outlines and figures. Before she could get adjusted, however...

"Sunny."

The voice was right in front of her. She tripped backwards with a small scream that sounded strangled even to her. Fearfully, she looked up, and she had to clap her hands over her mouth to keep from screaming any louder.

In front of her stood a dark, hunched silhouette with spiky hair. Logic told her that it was just L, just Ryuu... but she'd been through too much tonight to listen to logic, and fear overruled calm reasoning.

She started to hyperventilate, her breaths heavy and quick in the dark air. Her eyes widened in terror, and tears began to form. The shadow in front of her reminded her too much of the shadows from another time, _that _time, when flames licked the air instead of a cold, oppressive silence...

And then suddenly, she was shutting her eyes in pain as the lights were flicked on. Her breaths slowed down though until finally, with one shaky, long, drawn out breath, they were back to normal. She opened her eyes and started to blink away the tears. Slowly, but surely, the tears went away, and she could see a pale, slender hand outstretched in front of her. She didn't need to look up to realize it was his, and she blinked in numb, detached amazement. He scared her to the point where she lost her composure, but then he was offering a hand up? Well, but he didn't know that she could be scared like that, so she guessed it was alright.

She lifted her hand, and then stopped in midair. What if this was a test to see how much caution and vigilance she lacked? If she accepted the hand after what had just transpired, L would assume that she might do this with everyone. That is, accepting an offering of trust even after being put in danger. And if he assumed that, then he might not trust her to get into trouble anymore, and therefore might take her off the Kira case. No, she couldn't accept his hand; she had to get up on her own.

She took the hand that had been about to accept his and instead placed it flatly against the wall of the short corridor. The same was done with her other hand. Using the walls as support, she slowly stood up on shaky, tired, unsteady feet. So immersed was she on keeping steady that she didn't notice the minute flash of disappointment that crossed L's eyes. It was barely there in the first place, and by the time Sunny looked up, it was gone totally, replaced with his default expression.

When she was finally done steadying herself, she carefully took her hands off the walls and look up at L, who was staring at her with his trademark, indifferent look. She somehow managed a small, if somewhat off-kilter, smile at him. "Hey Ryuu."

"Sunny." L said again. And then there was nothing to say. The silence came back, only this time, it was heavier, and there were too many things left unsaid as the two merely stared at the other, trying to figure out the questions that hung in the tense air. It was a stalemate, and it seemed like it would continue forever until...

Sunny sighed and bent down to gather her bag and her binder, both of which had fallen from her hands when she'd tripped over. When she had finally done so, she shouldered her bag, lifted her binder in her left hand, and gave L a rather flippant, "G'night Ryuu," before walking past him to her room.

"I'm taking you off the Task Force."

Sunny stopped. She whipped around, eyes narrowed in disbelief. "What... did you just say?"

L stood there, seemingly unaffected by the danger in her tone. "Tomorrow. They should give you enough time to get your things. If they don't, just call me and-"

"Wait, hold up." Sunny raised her right hand to stop him. "So, you're really taking me off the Task Force?!" Sunny glared, daring him to confirm her question.

L, nonchalant as ever, simply said, "Yes."

Sunny gaped, too disbelieved for words at first, before finally getting a grip and asked lowly, "Why?"

L started to walk past her to his computer room. "Because I don't think you have the capabilities to handle this case anymore while on the Task Force."

As L walked past her, Sunny shot out her right hand and grabbed his shoulder. L stopped immediately, not because Sunny was strong (she was actually really weak, physical strength had never been her forte), but because he was curious as to what Sunny had to say. He almost flinched when he turned and looked at her because he could see, without a doubt, that Sunny was _mad._

Actually, to say "mad" would've been an understatement, seeing as Sunny was really fire-breathing furious. He had seen this side of her before, twice actually, at Wammy's, but it had always been at someone else, never him. She had never been mad at him, ever. Suffice to say, he was extremely shocked, and not overly certain on how to proceed.

But then his gaze leveled out with hers, and as it did so, he narrowed his eyes just a tad bit. Sunny might've been angry with him, but he'd been expecting this. He'd known right when he'd made the decision to take her off the Task Force that she would've been mad at him. He could deal with her. _Besides_, he thought, _I'm quite angry with her too._

As Sunny glared at him, she noticed the change in him, from an almost uncertainty to a sureness that could not be rivaled. He was going to stand his ground, and, as she processed how he tensed up underneath her hand, he was going to give her a piece of his mind as well.

When she was sure that he wouldn't run away, she took her hand off of his shoulder slowly, finger by finger. Never once did she take her gaze off of him. When her hand finally reached her side, she gestured to the sofas with her chin and said, "Have a seat, Ryuu. We have a lot to discuss."

L's eyes became harder, making his usually glazed eyes seem polished. "Yes, it appears so..." he whispered.

When neither of them made a move for the chairs, Sunny took the initiative and dumped her stuff on the table near the closest sofa. This movement also broke L out of their little impromptu staring match (the second one that night), and he went to sit down in the sofa across from the one Sunny was now sitting in.

"Comfortable?" Sunny asked, though it didn't look like she cared.

L's reply was swift and clipped, his tone as crisp as a fresh apple. "Quite." And with that, their first argument since they'd known each other began.

"So," Sunny shifted slightly, pulling her legs up and to her right, "Explain."

L did not have to be told what she was talking about. "Due to your recent actions, I didn't and I still don't think you have the capability to handle working on the Task Force any longer. Therefore, I'm taking you out of the Task Force as soon as possible, which happens to be tomorrow."

"I've been on many Task Forces before this one, and this is the first time an event like this has occurred. Why are you taking me out now instead of giving me another chance?"

It was almost as if L knew what she was going to ask. He didn't even miss a beat as he responded with a, "Because this is not any other case. If it was any other case, I'd give you the benefit of the doubt. However," he leaned forward on his knees, and his eyes bore into her, "this is the Kira case, and we cannot afford any slip ups. Do I need to remind you that the world may be at stake here?"

"My slip up wasn't even related to Kira. It was because of a momentary lapse of vigilance that I _have_ learned from," Sunny countered.

"All the more reason to take you off," L replied swiftly, "Your slip up this time was disastrous, and it wasn't due to Kira. Therefore, I took you off assuming that if your lapse of caution and vigilance continues, when something does come up with Kira, your slip up would not even be considered disastrous, and it might even be fatal."

"Y-you can't take me off the Task Force!" Sunny blurted out suddenly.

If L had eyebrows, he would've raised one of them right now. As it was, he merely asked, "Why not?"

"Because," Sunny racked her tired brains trying to find a good enough reason to convince L, "Because you need me to gauge the Task Force's mood towards you." _There, that should be good enough, _she thought in triumph.

L seemed to consider this, but then he shook his head almost imperceptibly and said, "While I will regret the loss of information, I think we have enough data to go on from."

In a last-ditch effort, Sunny desperately said, "If you take me off the Task Force now, then their opinion of you, which is already low, will go down even further."

"Well then, that will just be a risk I'll have to take." Slowly, he put his legs down and stood up. "Now get some rest," he said, not unkindly, "you'll have a very busy day tomorrow."

Sunny's body froze, and her eyes widened. She felt like a cold bucket of water had been dumped over her, so harsh was the reality of not being in the Task Force. She almost couldn't believe it, it was so sudden. But then she remembered L's cold, polished eyes, and she knew it was over.

A hot wave of shame passed through her, followed by a hotter, more permanent wave of anger. Why should she have to step down because of one silly mistake that she had learned from already? It was not fair, and she felt the injustice keenly.

Her temper only grew when she saw L's hand reaching out for her. He had noticed that she wasn't moving, and, like a concerned friend, had outstretched his arm for her to take it. But she did not see the worry in his eyes, and nor did she see the friendliness and reconciliation in the gesture. And so, repeating one of the night's earlier events, she refused his hand yet again.

"Good night Ryuu," she said icily, gathering her things and storming off silently to her room, missing L's resigned look as she did so.

When she reached her room, her anger went away abruptly, leaving only numbness and weariness behind. Unenthusiastically, she dumped everything to the ground, too tired to even yawn or sigh. With a groan, she flopped on her bed, and instantly fell asleep.

That night, her nightmares were worse than ever, and the shadows featured their new hunched, spiky-haired companion.

2 AM- IN THE COMPUTER ROOM

Watari stepped into the room with a cup of tea and a bowl full of sugar. As he walked over to his charge, he noticed that L had up the same screen he had when he had first asked for tea. When he looked at L finally, it all made sense. His eyes were distant, more so than usual, and Watari knew that he was thinking of Sunny.

Watari sighed. Even though he'd more or less told Sunny he'd wait outside, he hadn't, and as soon as they had moved away from the door, he had come in. Both of them had been so caught up in their argument that they hadn't noticed, and so he had seen and heard everything. It broke his heart to see them fighting like that, especially when Sunny had walked away, leaving a defeated L behind. He had sighed then too, and had laid his hand on L's shoulder as if to comfort him. L had looked up, and, for the first time in a long time, Watari had been shocked. Never before had he seen L look so tired, so beaten, so... _small_.

And now L was thinking of Sunny again. Unconsciously, he closed in on himself, making him seem like an armadillo trying to protect itself from danger. Like a child curling in and away from the world.

Watari sighed again. What to do, what to do... At this rate, L would be sulking until morning came around, and by then Sunny would wake up and the whole cycle would start all over again... No, he couldn't let that happen.

With determination burning in his eyes, he quietly made his way to where L sat and gently laid down the cup of tea and sugar bowl. L didn't even acknowledge that the tea and sugar were given to him, a sure sign that he was out of sorts.

It was now or never. Watari cleared his throat loud enough that it got L's attention.

"Hm?" L looked up to see Watari staring down at him. "I'm sorry, Watari, did you need anything?"

Watari looked down at L, and his eyes softened. Although he was infinitely better than earlier tonight when Sunny had stormed off, L's eyes were still blanker than usual, and the hunch of his shoulders were more pronounced.

"L," Watari began, "You did the right thing by taking Sunny off the Task Force."

L dropped his eyes from Watari and stared at his computer screen. He placed his thumb to his lips and absentmindedly whispered, "Did I now?"

"Yes. Sunny might not thank you for it now, nor ever, but you did the right thing, no matter how much you might doubt yourself. And, if you didn't take her out now, it might put you and her in an awkward position when you finally do meet with the Task Force."

L pressed the pad of his thumb flat against his teeth. "I suppose..."

Watari sighed upon seeing that L was not convinced. "We all have to make sacrifices, L. Especially for cases like these. Even if it's regarding the one we love..."

At that, L abruptly took his thumb out of his mouth, though he maintained a neutral expression. "Sunny is a friend and a partner, Watari. Please do not think of us as anything more."

Watari raised his eyebrows in mild disbelief and amusement. "Of course. My apologies."

"Hm," L took a sip of the tea, and promptly added 4 sugar cubes to make the tea sweeter. "Thank you... for the tea."

Watari smiled slightly. "You're welcome."

THE NEXT DAY

It was her favorite type of morning, the ones where the warm sun spilled through the blinds like ribbons and criss-crossed the room. Mornings like these usually made her smile lazily and stretch like a well-rested cat, no matter if the nightmares had come for her the night before. However this morning...

If anyone had peeked into the room, they would've seen only a lump on the bed, an unmoving, seemingly lifeless lump. However, it was something more significant. It was this lump of bed sheets that the ex-Task Force member Sanae Kobayashi, AKA Sunny, lay under this morning.

She had woken up not long ago, and she was now wiping away the residue tears and major tearstains that had been on her grubby cheeks when she had woken up from her nightmares. As she wiped away the tears, her internal turmoil calmed down, and she stared ahead, her mind clear and her vision set.

If anyone had peeked into the room, they would've seen only a lump on the bed, an unmoving, seemingly lifeless lump. However, it was something more significant. It was this lump of bed sheets that the ex-Task Force member Sanae Kobayashi, AKA Sunny, lay under this morning. And it was under this lump of bed sheets that the former Task Force member made her decision.

_I will find Kira by myself, and I will never, ever let Ryuu look down on me and my abilities again!_

**AN: Aaaaaand that's a wrap for this arc folks! So, here's a little insight to where I'm gonna go with this story. I'm going to have Sunny under go an investigation of her own (how I don't really know... any ideas?), and yes, SHE IS GOING TO HOLD A GRUDGE AGAINST L. It will end eventually, but Sunny will never really forget the injustice done to her in this chapter, so yeah...**

**In any case, this chapter was really fun to write, especially at the actual argument segment. A little fun fact about this chapter: I wrote most of it, including the argument, at 3 am while listening to the 10 hour version of Nyan Cat. The reason I decided to listen to Nyan Cat was because I watched Oculus quite recently, and now I'm kinda paranoid about a weird ghost woman coming after me at night so...**

**Please tell me if you think L or Watari are terribly OOC. I tried to make them as in character as possible, especially L, but I honestly think L would act that way if faced with a situation like this. Sunny's his best (and only) friend, and up until this point, they've never fought before.I tried to make his emotions as "watered down" (not shown on his face) as much as possible, but I had to go into L's insight and use SOME emotions. As to why L is pulling Sunny out of the Task Force, well, if you're really wondering that, go back and read the chapter and possibly the chapter before, and then PM me if you have any more questions.**

**Alright, so I know I said I'd be publishing a new story soon (Kuroshitsuji Sebastian x OC), but that's gonna have to wait a while. Things are REALLY chaotic over the summer; I'm moving, transitioning into high school, taking a few online classes, going to 2 summer camps blah blah, you get the gist. I've already got my hands full with this story, and one of my good friends is expecting a Tris x Four oneshot/story where Tris survives so "Trust Me" (working title) is just going to have to wait a while. I'll definitely have it up by the end of this year (long deadline, I know, but life). Hopefully, it'll be more than just one chapter that'll be up. No promises (I need an emoji but I don't know which one)!**

**The same things I said above more or less apply for this story, which I am hopefully going to update sooner. Key word is "hopefully". Screw life and its waywards lemons! **

**Meh, I think that's it. Oh right, this chapter was un-beta'ed so... he he, don't kill me if there's a lack of quality. I was just really excited about this chapter that I decided to update the story w/o consulting my lovely bet, CJ. Sorry CJ! I'm also going on vaction as of tomorrow, though I will be back by the 1st week of June, so I thought, eh, why not post a new chappie? If you guys think it sucks, I can always take it down and fix it.**

**Hoo boy, this is one long AN! It was required though, for everything I had to say. Finally, please remember to review. Reviews are what make this story better. No joke. Thanks to WildfireDreams who has always been there and reviewed from the time this story started. You get a choice of a virtual hug, cookie, popcorn, a combination of 2 of these, or all of them.**

**Welp, bye for now!**

**Rafa-chan**

**P.S. I'm actually listening to Nyan Cat right now as I upload this chappie...**


	9. Plans, Confrontations, and Goodbyes

_**Last time on No Matter What**_

_If anyone had peeked into the room, they would've seen only a lump on the bed, an unmoving, seemingly lifeless lump. However, it was something more significant. It was this lump of bed sheets that the ex-Task Force member Sanae Kobayashi, AKA Sunny, lay under this morning. And it was under this lump of bed sheets that the former Task Force member made her decision._

_**I will find Kira by myself, and never, ever let Ryuu look down on me and my abilities again!**_

Except... she had no idea how she was going to do that. There were so many things to consider, she really didn't know where to start...

_Well, _she sighed, turning in her bed, _I should probably start by listing off my assets and comparing them with Ryuu's. _Satisfied with this idea, she started to check off the list of things, people, or places that could help her one up Kira all by herself. As she went down the list however, she became more and more agitated as she realized that a lot of "her" resources could be accessed by L at will.

_I could... no, too risky. _

_Well then, maybe... no, Ryuu would find out easily. _

_Then... I could try to sneak into the Task Force as a different person... _She snorted in amusement, and then clenched her teeth in frustration. _Gah! How'd I even come up with that?! I must be seriously sleep-deprived._

She sighed. She knew she could've come up with better ideas than the stupid ones currently circling around in her head; however, everything had just been pushed onto her the day before, and now...

If only she could somehow access the Task Force's database; who knew how much information she'd be able to get from that! However, she would be locked out of it now, for in the eyes of the Task Force, she was just another civilian, AKA, someone who shouldn't have access to such information. And besides, it was all on computers, and she had never been particularly good with technology. Not to the level the job required anyhow. And she didn't think she knew anyone who'd be capable of completing the task...

_Wait... _She shot up, eyes wide, hands clenching the blankets as an idea raced through her mind. Her eyes darted left and right, seeing but not really seeing the white, crumpled sheets in front of her. Her hands gripped the blankets tighter and tighter... and then she relaxed. It wasn't much, and there were many things that could go wrong, but it was the best place to start from.

It was decided then. She'd go along with this crazy idea that had come to her in one of her most sleep-deprived moments, and hopefully it went well. Until then...

Sunny groaned and finally flopped out of bed. _Ugh... time to see the Task Force._

IN THE COMPUTER ROOM

A lone figure sat in the middle of the room, his eyes drooping dangerously. Just as it looked like he was going to nod off to sleep, however, he was startled awake by a movement on the screen he had been watching.

Fully awake now, his eyes were glued to the screen, and he watched as his childhood friend, in all her bedhead glory, _finally_ emerged from her room. He chuckled inwardly at her predicament yet let no sign of amusement show on his face.

His eyes roved over to the clock on the computer, and slightest of frowns made its way onto his face. _9:00... Usually, Sunny would be out the door by now..._

He huffed shortly. Even if it didn't seem like it, he was frustrated and confused. Exactly what had Sunny been doing that had taken her so long?

Perhaps she had been planning something inside her room? Whatever the case, he'd never know what happened. He'd never placed cameras in his, Watari's, or Sunny's rooms, preferring instead to let them have their privacy. Especially Sunny, seeing as she was... well, _different _from him and Watari.

He zoomed in on the screen in front of him again, not appreciating the road his thoughts had gone down. Sunny was out of the reaches of the camera now, so there was no point in observing her actions any longer. L minimized the camera screen and tried to focus on the data that was now set before him.

As he scrolled through the info, he felt a bout of nostalgia wash over him, and, as he examined the data more carefully, he realized that he had already read this document!

Irritation flared up inside of him, and once again, he cursed his current inability to focus on his job. Honestly, what was wrong with him! The world was depending on him to find, catch, and bring Kira to justice, not to mope over a pointless, petty argument! He knew this, and yet he just couldn't bring himself to focus or care.

He sighed. Perhaps if he took a quick break, his mind would clear itself, and he would be ready to work again.

He rose up shakily with a slight grimace on his face. Damn, he really had been sitting for way too long. No wonder Sunny told him to take a break every half hour or so...

Yet again his thoughts circled back to her. Really, this matter was getting quite out of hand! He shook his head slightly. No, he wouldn't let this affect him nor his work anymore, and the only way to do that was to confront Sunny.

IN THE KITCHEN

When Sunny walked into the kitchen, the first thing she noticed was that L was slouching by the counter. He was sucking a lollipop, and his eyes were waiting, watching. She tensed, and briefly considered making a run for it. Then she forced that impulse down, stood up straighter, and walked past L without a glance.

She felt his gaze on her as she pulled out her cup and the chocolate syrup from a cupboard. She refused to look at him or even talk to him; perhaps if she didn't acknowledge his prescence, he would go away.

As she took the milk out of the fridge and poured some into her cup, she heard L shifting his weight from one foot to another. She inwardly smiled. This was great! He was getting bored, and soon enough, he'd go away and leave her alone. As long as she didn't turn around or react to him, she would be fine...

_SMACK! _Sunny jumped, and then she let out an irritated sigh. Yup, he reeaaally wanted her attention... well, too bad he had majorly pissed her off the night before.

L had smacked his cherry lollipop extra loudly in order to get a reaction out of Sunny, who, since she arrived, had only been ignoring him. The reaction he got, however, was better than he had hoped for. All that was left was a few more of those ear-shattering, obnoxiously noisy smacks and...

"WILL YOU STOP THAT?!"

She had cracked. If the situation wasn't so serious, L would've found it funny.

"Stop what?" he asked innocently.

Sunny growled. "Not now, Ryuu." Honestly, what was up with him?! First he nearly scares her to death, then he takes her off the Task Force, and now this? She was really at her limit now.

"Are you still mad at me?" _That's it,_ she thought viciously. She spun around, ready to shout at him only to find a rather tired look in his eyes and posture. _Tired? No it can't be... Ryuu's never tired! _Whatever the case was though, the words she was about to say died abruptly in her throat, and her look of anger turned into one of scrutiny and concern.

He wasn't going to lie; it had been really fun to rile Sunny up, but he needed answers. And so he had asked her, and in all honesty, he had expected her to blow up at him. And she almost did, but something (he didn't know what) had stopped her. Something had stopped her blazing anger in its tracks, replacing it with a keen eye and an invasive worry. With Sunny's eyes analyzing him, he struggled to keep up his usual look of nonchalance. All of a sudden, he was very glad he had a lollipop in his hands; he always felt calmer when he was either eating or playing with food.

"Ryuu, are you ok?" He almost lost his composure out of shock; he really hadn't been expecting her concern.

"Perfectly fine," he managed to answer. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, you-"

_DING! _Now both of them jumped, although only Sunny sighed in relief when she realized it was just the microwave. She turned away from and started to take her milk out of the microwave.

L took this as his chance to escape. He needed to get out of here before he got even more confused; funny really, how he thought a direct confrontation with Sunny would clear his mind.

He started to shuffle out of the kitchen but stopped in his tracks when Sunny said,

"In answer to your question Ryuu, no, I'm not mad at you. But... I haven't fully forgiven you either. Just give me some time, and maybe I'll come around."

Sunny waited for a reply, expecting at least an "alright" or an "ok", but after a few minutes had gone by without a sound, she turned around again. "Ryuu-"

L wasn't there.

IN THE HALLWAY

He walked away from the kitchen quickly and silently. His mind was more muddled than when he had first decided to see Sunny, and he regretted taking a break to do so in the first place.

It had been wrong to leave Sunny behind without even a word of acknowledgment, but he really couldn't bring himself to talk or stay longer than he had. He might've ended up saying something that he didn't mean to say, and then where would he be?

He groaned under his breath. He was never good with arguments and social situations, and had never been. That's why he had asked Sunny to join him in the first place; she was the side of L that analyzed people down to their core. He would've been somewhat unable to crack many cases if it wasn't for Sunny's ability to analyze and (to an extent) manipulate people so well.

"L? Is something wrong?" L turned around to find an extremely concerned Watari. He quickly schooled his features, but he knew he was caught.

"It's Sunny again, isn't it?" Watari correctly took L's silence as an affirmative, and proceeded to ask, "What's wrong? Did you two have a fight again?"

"No," L answered hesitantly.

"But?" Watari prompted.

L sighed. "I... asked Sunny if she was still mad at me, and she said no... but she still hasn't forgiven me yet. She said she needs time."

Watari nodded. "It's to be expected, after what you did." L started to protest, and when Watari saw this, he cut him off. "I'm not saying you did anything wrong in taking her off the Task Force; I'm just saying that it's hard for Sunny to accept that it happened. She will eventually forgive you, L. You just have to be patient."

"Patient?" L echoed.

"Yes, patient. That would mean acting by yourself for a while as Sunny figures out how to deal on her own. She'll eventually warm up to you again, probably sooner rather than later, considering Sunny's personality."

This comforted L, and he began to relax. But Watari was not finished.

"However, know this though, L: While she may not be angry with you now, and while she may forgive you with time, she will never forget what happened last night," Watari's dark, somewhat stern eyes met L's conflicted ones. "Do you understand, L?"

L opened his mouth and closed it. He looked down at his shuffling feet. After staying silent for a minute, he seemed to make up his mind. He looked up, and Watari saw that his eyes reflected a diligent determination. And though the words he spoke were quiet, they seemed to echo throughout the empty hallway afterwards.

"I understand."

AT HEADQUARTERS

"What? She's getting taken off?!"

"Yeah, wonder what it's for..."

"I heard L personally asked if she could be taken off the Task Force..."

"Are you serious?!"

"If he can do that to her, what'll he do to us..."

A part of Sunny wanted to go up to them and assure them that they wouldn't lose their jobs. She supposed it was the doctor in her. She couldn't, of course, for obvious reasons.

"Well, I heard she got off because L personally wanted her... you know, like _that_..."

"What?! You can't be serious! He's L!"

"Hey, that's just what I heard..."

Sunny's face flushed at the not-so-subtle implications hidden beneath the words, and her nose wrinkled in disgust. Honestly, the things people came up with...

She smoothed out her face and tilted her chin upwards. Her back straightened ever so slightly, and while she had been walking quite briskly before, now she picked up her pace and walked with a new purpose. It would do her no good to lose her cool over a silly rumor such as this one. And besides, she'd heard worse.

She turned the corner, and after a few more steps, she found herself in front of the Chief's door. She knocked just loud enough for it be heard.

When she heard a muffled "Come in!" from the other side, she twisted the doorknob, stepped inside the room, and closed the door behind her with a soft click. The Chief looked up, and his face turned resigned as he saw Sunny.

"Sit down, Dr. Kobayashi-"

"If it's alright with you, Chief, I'd prefer to stand," Sunny said quietly.

The Chief sighed. "If that's what you wish." Sunny nodded in response. The Chief rolled back in his chair, opened the top drawer, and took out a half-full manila folder along with an official note.

"These are yours to keep, and here's the... notice." Sunny gave a curt nod, and then she took the materials from his outstretched hand. Her eyes darted to the note.

'_This is to certify that Dr. Kobayashi Sanae is no longer a part of the Task Force as of December 22, 2003. She will not be able to access any private materials nor any weapons that an officer has access to.'_

There it was, in plain black ink. It shouldn't have shocked her, shouldn't have overwhelmed her, but it did. This was it; it was over. She felt a keen ache in her heart, and her eyes started to sting. The words in front of her blurred.

She heard a discreet cough and blinked rapidly. She looked up to see the Chief staring at her in concern.

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply through her nose. She kept inhaling until her chest ached. She then released a silent sigh and felt the weight of the feelings disappear. Her face went slack, and when she opened her eyes, they were as blank as L's.

"Thank you," she said in a clipped tone. She bowed stiffly and walked towards the closed door. Just a few more steps and she could let out all her emotions...

"Dr. Kobayashi, please wait a minute."

She stopped in her tracks. She knew she should turn around, but honestly, she couldn't bring herself to.

"Yes, Chief?" Her voice was smooth, even.

The Chief was silent for a long, agonizing moment. Then he spoke up. "I'd like to thank you for your brilliant work in this division. I hope you are able to continue your work; the world needs more police officers like you."

It was a good thing Sunny had not turned around, for now her eyes were wide and brimming with tears. She didn't sob, nor did she make any sort of noise. She stood there, still and silent.

When she spoke at last, she angled her head slightly in the Chief's direction. Her voice wavered as she said, "Thank you, Chief."

She turned the door knob and was out before the Chief could reply, leaving him to wonder about the flash of silver he'd seen on her cheek.

**AN: Soooo... Long time no see everybody! How's it going? Heh heh...**

**I want to be honest with you guys here; I HATE this chapter and how it turned out. For some reason, the drama seems a bit too forced. I tried over and over to make it better, but it just wouldn't FIX. Gah! In any case, this is the best one I came up with, so here ya go! If you hate it, or if you think that anything needs to be changed/put in/ taken out/ this chapter should be scrapped completely, please let me know via the reviews. I do check them, and they really do help me with making these chapters.**

**In other news, I moved over the summer and I started high school about 2 weeks ago! Yay! Homework kills~**

**...Which basically translates to: I have very little control over my life and I don't know when the next update will be. I will not make any promises. **

**So now that we've established I'm a shitty writer, please review! Tell me your thoughts! I want to know! And please don't kill me for leaving you guys hanging on a cliffie for so long!**

**Bye bye for now!**

**Rafa-chan!**


	10. HEADS UP: CONTEST FOR SUNNY'S APPEARANCE

**AN NOTE**

**Hey everyone! How's it goin'? Sorry this isn't an update; it's still really important, so you might want to listen to it.**

**I want to ask you guys a question: Do you KNOW, with absolute certainty, what Sunny's appearance is? You don't, and this is because I never told you what she looked like. No, I'm not going to dump her physical attributes right here; instead, I'm going to have a little competition. **

**Why don't you guys tell me what you think Sunny might look like in the reviews?**

**It'll be much more fun than me coming up with something on my own. I do have a vague mental image of what Sunny looks like, but I want to compare my version of her appearance and your version of her appearance. It gives me a chance to peer inside the depths of your brain. (Oooooh).**

**So here's what you need. You need to describe her:**

**EYES**

**HAIR**

**HEIGHT (HAS TO BE SHORTER THAN HUNCHED L)**

**SKIN**

**OPTIONAL MISCELLANEOUS DETAILS**

**The only rule is to keep it normal. Remember that Sunny is a spy for L in the police force, and spies aren't supposed to stand out. So no outrageously colored hair, eyes, skin, etc. She might dye her hair for particular situation, but that's about it.**

**As I said yesterday, I'll definitely be looking through the reviews, so when I find an appearance that seems just "Sunny"-like, I'll pick it and put it in to the story. I might even take attributes from multiple reviews! Winners will get shoutouts and a virtual trip to a magical land of their choosing.**

**I'll be looking forward to your answers!**

**Bye bye!**

**Rafa-chan**


	11. Reunion, Coffee Shop Talks, and Falling

_**Last time on No Matter What**_

"_I'd like to thank you for your brilliant work in this division. I hope you are able to continue your work; the world needs more police officers like you."_

_It was a good thing Sunny had not turned around, for now her eyes were wide and brimming with tears. She didn't sob, nor did she make any sort of noise. She stood there, still and silent._

_When she spoke at last, she angled her head slightly in the Chief's direction. Her voice wavered as she said, "Thank you, Chief."_

_She turned the door knob and was out before the Chief could reply, leaving him to wonder about the flash of silver he'd seen on her cheek._

Sunny walked quickly down the street, the lapels of her coat turned up high. She stared at the sidewalk while trying to hide her red-rimmed hazel eyes, so she didn't notice the other person until it was too late.

_OOF! _Sunny flailed, finally falling to the sidewalk. Her hands scraped the rough pavement, and she hissed at the unexpected jolt of pain.

"Ow..."

"Oh my, are you okay?" Sunny looked up. She squinted against the sunlight as she tried to make out the dark figure towering over her. Her eyes finally focused, and she saw a familiar pale face underneath a head of picture-perfect black hair.

"Naomi?"

Naomi took a step back, almost jostling the crowd around them, and eyed Sunny warily. "How do you know me?"

Sunny stood up slowly, brushing her knees. "Naomi, it's me, Sophie!"

Naomi's dark eyes narrowed, and she assessed Sunny before finally smiling tentatively. "Sophie?"

Sunny smiled back. "Yes, it's me. Nice to see you again, Naomi!"

LOCATION: IN THE CONDO

TIME: 10:00 AM DEC 23, 2003

L clicked to the next file and studied it, worrying his thumb with his teeth. These files were the first of the weekly reports L had asked for from the FBI agents. So far, everything seemed to be in order...

_Oh? What's this? _L leaned in imperceptibly closer, eyes narrowing as he read the information on the last day in the file.

Apparently, one of the families had a son who went on a date on December 20th. It started off quite normally, until the hijacker showed up. Kiichiro Osoreda, a drug addict, had attempted to take over the bus in which the agent, son, and his date were in. In order to stop the son from trying to save the whole bus, the agent had to pull rank and prove that he was an FBI agent.

L's thumb dropped out of his mouth in shock. He read over the last paragraph again to make sure he hadn't been hallucinating from lack of sugar (in fact, he should probably go get some candy, he'd only had the one lollipop...).

But no, it was still there. L sat back on his heels and mused about the ramifications of such an action. On one hand, it seemed the action had been necessary to save the young man's life; on the other hand, the agent's cover had been blown.

L quickly read the rest of the report, biting harder and harder on his thumb in shock. Apparently the agent had revealed himself to the son of the family he'd been following! L scrolled up to the top of the report to read the agent's name. _Raye Penber... _hm. He'd have to pull him out as quickly as possible.

L glanced at the family the agent was tailing. He noted the surname with interest.

_Yagami_... hm.

LOCATION: AT A CAFE

TIME: 10:30 AM DEC 23, 2003

The two ladies selected a table by the window, and they sat down with their drinks and pastries, letting the pale sunlight wash over them. The boy was just finishing up sweeping near their table, and he stopped for a second just to watch them.

They were rather unusual. One of them had raven hair and eyes that went beautifully with her snowy skin. She was the picture of composure, a true Japanese beauty.

In contrast, her friend had blonde hair, creamy skin flushed with the cold, and wide set hazel eyes. She had a more relaxed aura, and her smile was wide and amiable.

In short, the two women were as different as night and day, and yet they seemed to share a comradeship the young student could not understand.

Feeling curious, and just a bit bold, he started sweeping closer to them, trying to make his advance subtle. When he had reached a table two booths from where they were sitting, he could just make out some snatches of conversation.

"...Work with him?"

"Yes... always have. Assistant..."

"Why... me... help?"

"...Need you..."

"...Retired... getting married..."

At this, one of the women, probably the blonde, gasped in surprise. Her voice was definitely higher when she demanded, "Who?"

"...Raye..."

"Raye?!" A disbelieving laugh. "The one who practically worshipped you?"

A defensive "He's sweet!" is given in response.

"Alright! I'm guessing he's the reason you retired?"

Silence.

"He is, isn't he?" came softly, so softly he has to strain his ears to hear it.

"...yes."

"Oh Naomi-"

"It's fine Sophie. I've made my choice."

"That doesn't mean you have to give up who you are. You love your work Naomi!"

"Loved. I loved my work Sophie. I'm done; I'm getting married."

"Naomi, please. We need your help," a rustle of fabric, and the boy looked up to see the blonde (Sophie?) covering her friend's (Naomi?) hand with her own, "I need your help."

Silence. The minutes passed as the boy saw the woman, no, _Naomi_, contemplate. Suddenly, her coal dark eyes ended up on him, and he nearly dropped his broom in shock.

"Huh? Naomi? Who are you-oh." The blonde turned around, and she blinked in surprise. Then she grinned, and said,

"Hello there! Were we talking too loudly?"

The boy gulped. There is something off about her question. Though said sweetly, there is an undertone to it that suggested that whatever he answers will not end up well for him. "Uh, I... I-"

Her grin turned apologetic, but this time he knows it's fake. "I'm so sorry! My friend and I have a tendency of talking really loudly whenever we get excited. Since we seem to be disturbing you, we should probably leave."

The boy's eyes widen. "Um no! It's... it's not necessary-"

"Nonsense! We're keeping you from your work! Besides, we were about to leave anyways. Right, Naomi?"

Naomi keeps her cold and wary gaze straight on the boy's face as she answers, "Yes. I do believe we should be going."

"Alright then! Gochisōsama deshita! We'll be on our way now!"

As the boy stood there, uncertain of what to do, the women efficiently gathered their bags and swiftly walked away with nary a word to say. He stood there in that same spot and watched as they pused the door open and walked out into the cold morning sun.

LOCATION: OUTSIDE THE CAFÉ

TIME: 10:45 AM DEC 23, 2003

"So this is where we part?"

"Yes. Keep in touch, alright?"

"... Alright. I'll tell you if I find anything important."

"... Thank you, Naomi."

"No problem."

LOCATION: IN THE CONDO

TIME: 11:15 AM DEC 23, 2003

L was rummaging around in the kitchen (_now where did Watari put his beloved cookies?_) when he heard the sound of the door being unlocked. He froze as the door opened, and the person walked in. Judging by the high pitched sigh and the footsteps... well. It had to be Sunny.

What should he do? In his current position (left leg bent at a right angle on the counter, standing on the tiptoes of his right foot on a wobbly stool trying to desperately balance himself) it would be exceedingly difficult to get down and back to his room without alerting Sunny to his presence. And he was pretty sure Sunny didn't want to see him right now, hilarious position or not.

And so it was that Sunny walked in on the ever elusive L trying to balance himself on a shaky stool. For a moment they just stared at each other in silence. That is, until Sunny broke the silence by asking,

"What in the world are you trying to do?"

L's face was blanker than a space, but he groaned internally. There was no good way out of this situation was there? Perhaps if he-

"Well?" Sunny said with a hint of a quiver in her voice.

Oh no. This situation had the potential to be catastrophic. And from the quiver in Sunny's voice (_would she cry?_), it would turn so really quickly.

He moved his left hand to clear his throat, letting go of the cabinet door...

...And promptly fell on his bum, with the wooden stool clattered at his feet.

There was a moment of dumbfounded silence, as both Sunny and L regarded the situation. And then Sunny lowered her head and her shoulders started to shake. L's eyes widened minutely, and his brain turned into a complete train wreck. _Shit, _he thought, _she's not... please tell me she's not..._

And then the tense bubble burst, and Sunny's unrestrained laugh rolled through the kitchen. It bounced off the walls as she doubled over and clutched her stomach, unable to stop. L huffed out a sigh of mixed annoyance and relief and leaned back on his palms with a soft smile on his lips.

Eventually, Sunny stopped laughing with a great sigh. Slowly, she wiped the tears from her eyes and stared down at L with a wide grin on her lips. L stared back with that same soft smile. The silence that enveloped them now was comforting and tentatively hopeful.

_Perhaps we can work this out_, L thought, _perhaps it isn't so difficult after all._

**AN: Hey everybody! RaFa-chan here! I am so sorry that this is all I have after nearly a year; I honestly wanted to give you guys a bigger chapter after such a long and unexplained hiatus, but it just would not work. After my last update, life just went crazy. I had a little time where I could write snatches of the chapter, but not a lot of it at once. This sorely impacted the flow of the piece, and I had go back and redo some scenes where the flow felt choppy.**

**I'm not gonna lie; I don't know when the next update will be. School is going to be crazy next year (more than usual). Please know though that I will not give up on this story until it is finished. I genuinely like where I'm going with this, and I love playing around with different characters and seeing how they would react. I might have to watch some of the anime again (it's been a long time since I've watched it). It might take a year until the next update (dear God and everything that is holy, I hope not!), but I will finish this story.**

**Bye for now!**

**RaFa-chan.**

**P.S. Shoutout to Oito Y for Sunny's character appearance! Thanks Oito Y!**


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